UC-NRLF 
B   ^   563  130 


S^^k.:^^^^:^^^^^^^ 


niDersit^  of  ^^ 
4  •^ (California  ^ 


A  Scheme 


[or  a 


Paper  Currency 


By 
Richard  Fry 


1739 


The  fifth  publication  of   the  Club  for  Colonial    Reprints 
of   Providence,   Rhode  Island 


ONE       HUNDRED       COPIES 


A  Scheme 


fo 


r  a 


Paper  Currency 

Together  with  Two  Petitions  written 
in  Boston  Gaol  in  1739-174.0 

By 
Richard   Fry 

With  an  introduction  by 
Andrew  McFarland   Davis 


VERSITY 

or 


Providence,  Rhode  Island 
1908 


8PREGKELS 


Table  of  Contents 


Introduction     ........       7 

The  Petition  of  Richard  Fry 22 

A  Scheme  for  a  Paper  Currency  .  .  .  -41 

The  Petition  of  the  Prisoners    .  .  .  .  -73 


190887 


Introduction 

By 

Andrew  McFarland  Davis 


OF  THi 

UNIVERSITY 


CAfJPO' 


OR  the  complete  understand- 
ing of  the  petition  of  Rich- 
ard Fry  and  of  the  scheme 
for  a  paper  currency  which 
is  annexed  to  the  petition,  it 
is  essential  that  one  should 
consider  not  only  the  laws 
then  in  force  relating  to  the 
collection  of  debts  but  also  one  should  bear  in  mind 
the  condition  of  the  currency  question  in  the  Province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  at  that  time.  It  is  further  requi- 
site that  the  notions  then  prevalent  as  to  what  might 
constitute  a  proper  basis  for  a  currency  adapted  for 
circulation  as  a  medium  of  trade  should  be  constantly 
remembered.  That  a  proposition  for  a  public  meas- 
ure should  be  addressed  to  the  Assembly  from  the  jail, 
with  evident  hope  and  expectation  that  the  source 
from  which  it  originated  would  not  impair  its  effi- 
ciency, necessarily  compels  one  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  indiscriminate  imprisonment  for  debt  re- 
lieved all  prisoners,  to  a  certain  extent,  from  the 
stigma  which  is  cast  upon  such  unfortunates  by  their 
confinement  to-day.  We  do  not  think  any  the  less 
of  Mr.  Pickwick  because  he  preferred  imprisonment 
to   the   payment   of   Dodson   &    Fogg's    execution. 


[x]  Introduction 

Nor  would   any   document   signed    by    him   in    the 
Fleet  Prison  lose  importance  from  its  source. 

There  were  three  persons  whose  names  were  asso- 
ciated with  the  original  suit  in  which  Fry  was  held 
a  prisoner  ;  Samuel  Waldo  and  Thomas  Westbrook, 
plaintiffs,  and  Richard  Fry,  defendant.  Waldo  was 
a  Boston  man  of  great  wealth,  which  in  those  days 
was  equivalent  to  saying  that  he  had  large  holdings 
of  real  estate.  At  a  later  date  he  moved  to  Fal- 
mouth, the  settlement  from  which  the  modern 
Portland  has  grown,  where  it  was  known  that  his 
acreage  was  well  up  in  the  thousands,  while  the  author 
of  the  Waldo  Genealogy  puts  his  entire  holdings  in 
what  is  now  Maine  at  500,000  acres.  His  name 
appears  in  the  Frost  and  Leighton  suit,  in  which 
the  York  Court  twice  refused  to  carry  out  a  Royal 
Order,  issued  on  an  appeal  to  the  Privy  Council 
from  one  of  their  judgments.  He  was  the  repre- 
sentative in  Boston  of  Ralph  Gulston,  who  had  a 
contract  with  the  Crown  to  furnish  masts  and  spars, 
and  he  it  was  who  employed  Leighton  to  cut  down 
the  trees  which  caused  Frost  to  bring  his  action  of 
trespass.  Waldo  was  a  man  of  many  enterprises, 
and  in  the  course  of  his  career  incurred  much  hos- 
tility, but  on  the  whole  he  was  esteemed,  and  in  the 
Louisburg  expedition   he,   as   General,  held   the  sec- 


Introduction  [xi] 

ond  place  in  command  of  the  Massachusetts  troops. 
His  prominence  at  that  time  has  procured  for  him 
recognition  in  our  Biographical  Dictionaries. 

Westbrook,  better  known  as  Colonel  Westbrook, 
was  also  a  well-known  man.  He  lived  on  the  Stroud- 
water,  just  west  of  what  we  now  know  as  Portland, 
Maine,  where  he  had  a  farm  and  much  real  estate 
along  the  river.  He  also  owned  land  on  the  Pre- 
sumpscot.  He  figures  in  the  politics  of  the  Prov- 
ince, as  the  Colonel,  whom  Dummer  against  his 
will  and  practically  under  compulsion  from  the  as- 
sembly, appointed  to  carry  out  an  Indian  raid.  It  was 
under  his  directions  as  Colonel  that  Father  Rasle's 
camp  was  destroyed  and  his  papers,  amongst  which 
was  the  Abenaki  dictionary,  were  captured. 

Just  what  brought  Waldo  and  Westbrook  to- 
gether in  this  partnership;  just  what  the  terms  of 
the  partnership  were ;  and  what  were  the  separate 
contributions  of  the  partners  to  the  enterprise,  does 
not  appear,  but  we  find  these  two  men  associ- 
ated in  October,  1734,  as  partners  in  a  lease  to  Fry 
of  a  paper-mill  on  the  Stroudwater. 

Richard  Fry  was  an  Englishman  who,  as  he  states 
in  his  petition  addressed  to  the  General  Court,  came 
over  here  in  1731.  His  claim  for  fame  rests  pri- 
marily upon   his  scheme  for   a   paper  currency,  and 


[xii]  Introduction 

secondarily  upon  the  hundreds  of  papers  in  suits  in 
which  he  figured  as  plaintiff  or  defendant,  with 
which  the  files  of  Sufi-olk  County  for  many  years, 
especially  1736  to  1741,  inclusive,  are  cluttered  up. 
Winsor,  in  the  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of 
America,  alludes  to  him  as  a  printer,  but  he  himself 
in  an  advertisement  defined  his  avocation  or  avoca- 
tions as  **  Stationer,  Bookseller,  Paper-Maker,  and 
Rag  Merchant."  His  claim  that  he  was  a  paper- 
maker  by  occupation,  furnishes  the  probable  basis 
for  the  lease  of  the  Stroudwater  Mill  to  him. 

The  advertisement  which  has  been  alluded  to  ap- 
peared in  The  Weekly  Rehearsal,  published  in  Bos- 
ton on  May  i,  1732,  and  as  it  bears  the  marks  of 
the  man's  peculiarities,  it  is  worth  reproducing. 

^~T^HIS  is  to  give  Notice^  That  Richard  Fry,  Sta- 
tioner,  Bookseller,  Paper-tnaker  ^  Rag  Mer- 
chant from  the  City  of  London,  keeps  at  Mr.  Tho. 
Fleet'j-,  Printer,  at  the  Heart  &  Crown  in  Cornhill, 
Boston ;  where  the  said  Fry  is  ready  to  accommodate 
all  Gentlemen  Merchants  and  Tradesmen  with  Setts  of 
Accompt  Books  after  the  tnost  tieatest  Manner.  And 
whereas  it  has  been  the  common  Method  of  the  ?fwst  cu- 
rious Merchants  in  Boston,  to  Procure  their  Books  from 
London.      This    is    to   acquaint    those    Gentlernen,   that 


Introduction  [xiii] 

/  the  said  Fry  will  sell  all  sorts  of  Accompt  Books  done 
after  the  most  acute  Manner,  for  Twenty  per  Cent. 
cheaper  than  they  can  have  them  from  London.  /  re- 
turn the  Publick  Thanks  for  following  the  Direction 
of  niy  former  Advertisefnent  for  gathering  Rags,  and 
hope  they  will  still  continue  the  like  Method,  having  re- 
ceived upwards  of  Seven  Thousand  Weight  already. 
For  the  pleasing  Entertainment  of  the  Polite  part  of 
Mankind,  I  have  Printed  the  most  beautiful  Poems  of 
Mr.  Stephen  Duck;  the  fajnous  ^Wt^hir^  Poet.  It 
is  a  full  Demonstration  to  tne,  that  the  People  of  New- 
England  have  a  fine  Taste  for  good  Sense  and  polite 
Learning,  having  already  Sold  1200  of  those  Poems. 

Rich.   Fry. 


The  published  Scheme  which  comprises  the 
greater  part  of  the  reprint  given  herewith  bears  date 
April  19,  1739,  but  it  is  evident  that  it  was  not 
submitted  to  the  Assembly  for  some  time  after  that 
date.  An  advertisement  inserted  by  Fry  in  The 
Boston  Gazette  for  May  28,  1739,  speaks  of  it  as 
"now  in  the  Press."  This  advertisement,  which 
foreshadowed  to  the  Public  the  benefits  about  to 
be  conferred  on  them  through  the  submission  of 
the  Scheme  to  the   General  Court,   reads  as  follows : 


[xiv]  Introduction 

THIS  is  to  inform  the   Publick  that  there  is  now 

in  the  Press ^  and  will  be  laid  before  the  Great  and  Gen- 
eral Court,  a  Paper  Scheme,  drawn  for  the  Good  and 
Benefit  of  every  individual  Member  of  the  whole  Prov- 
ince ;  and  what  will  much  please  his  Royal  Majesty ; 
for  the  Glory  of  our  King  is  the  Happiness  of  his  Sub- 
jects :  And  every  Merchant  in  Great-Britain  that 
trades  to  New-England,  will  find  their  Accoimt  by  it ; 
and  there  is  no  Man  that  has  the  least  Shadow  of 
Fou?idation  of  Co?nmon  Reason,  but  must  allow  the 
said  Scheme  to  be  reasonable  and  just :  I  have  laid  all 
my  Schetnes  to  be  proved  by  the  Mathefnaticks,  and  all 
Mankind  well  knows.  Figures  will  not  lye  ;  and  notwith- 
standing the  dismal  Idea  of  the  Tear  Forty  One,  /  dont 
doubt  the  least  seeing  of  it  a  Tear  o/' Jubilee,  and  in  a 
few  Tears  having  the  Ballance  of  Trade  in  Favour  of 
this  Province  from  all  Parts  of  the  Trading  World ;  for 
it's  plain  to  a  Demonstration,  by  the  just  Schemes  of 
Peter  the  Great,  the  late  Czar  of  Muscovy,  in  the  Run 
of  a  few  Years,  arrived  to  such  a  vast  Pitch  of  Glory, 
whose  Empire  now  f?iakes  as  grand  an  Appearance  as 
any  E?npire  on  the  Earth,  which  Empire  for  Improve- 
ment, is  no  way^,  to  be  compared  with  his  Royal  Maj- 
esty s  Dominions  in  America. 

/  hu7nbly   beg    Leave  to  subscribe  myself, 
A  true  and  hearty  Lover  of  New  England, 

Richard  Fry. 
Boston  Gaol  May,  1739. 


Introduction  [^v] 

It  would  be  difficult  to  determine  from  the  lan- 
guage of  Fry's  petition  to  the  General  Court, 
given  below,  what  was  the  basis  of  the  suit 
upon  which  he  was  held  a  prisoner  for  debt. 
He  alludes  only  to  mills  "  across  Presumscot 
River,"  while  it  appears  from  papers  in  the  Suf- 
olk  files  that  the  paper-mill,  the  lease  of  which 
was  the  basis  of  the  suit,  was  situated  on  the 
Stroudwater,  and  Fry's  letters  or  at  any  rate  some  of 
them  are  at  this  time  dated  from  Stroudwater. 
There  were  saw-mills  on  the  Presumpscot  and  there 
was  at  least  one  saw-mill  in  addition  to  the  paper- 
mill  on  the  Stroudwater.  It  is  not  essential  for 
our  purpose  that  we  should  unravel  all  the  intrica- 
cies of  this  litigation.  Certain  facts,  however,  may 
be  ascertained  from  the  papers  of  the  suits  and  while 
they  are  not  on  their  face  reconcilable  with  some  of 
Fry's  statements,  it  is  quite  possible  that  one  famil- 
iar with  the  details  of  the  early  history  of  Falmouth 
might  discover  what  the  difficulty  was. 

The  suit  was  for  rent  due  for  the  occupation  and 
use  of  a  paper-mill  on  the  Stroudwater,  which  was 
leased  to  Fry  by  Waldo  and  Westbrook,  October 
14,  1734,  for  the  term  of  twenty-one  years,  at  the 
annual  rental  of  forty  pounds  sterling,  payable  in 
quarterly    instalments.       Simultaneously    with     this 


[xvi]  Introduction 

document,  another  was  executed  between  the  same 
parties  wherein  Waldo  and  Westbrook  agreed  to 
build  a  house  for  Fry  and  to  lease  it  to  him  for  ten 
per  cent  of  the  cost.  They  also  agreed,  if  the  use 
of  the  saw-mill  was  found  prejudicial  to  the  paper- 
mill  by  drawing  down  the  water,  that  they  would 
lease  the  same  to  Fry. 

Fry  occupied  the  mill  until  December  25,  1736, 
without  making  any  money  payments  for  his  rent, 
although  he  was  credited  by  his  landlords  with 
fifty  reams  of  paper  delivered  to  them,  which  was 
valued  at  ten  pounds  sterling.  The  claim  for  rent 
for  this  period  amounted  to  eighty  pounds,  on 
which  credit  was  given  for  ten  pounds  on  account 
of  the  paper,  and  judgment  was  obtained  for  the  net 
amount  due,  seventy  pounds.  The  exact  date  of 
Fry's  committal  to  jail  does  not  appear,  but  in 
April,  1739,  he  had  been  incarcerated  upwards  of 
one  year  and  was  then  undergoing  his  second  year  of 
confinement.  On  the  twenty-first  of  June,  1738,  at 
a  hearing  on  appeal  in  York,  in  the  case  of  Fry, 
appellant,  vs.  Waldo  and  Westbrook,  appellees,  the 
original  judgment  was  confirmed  and  execution  was 
issued  August  9,  1738.  In  all  probability  he  was 
committed  to  jail  very  soon  after  this. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  June,  1739,  his  petition 


Introduction  [xvii] 

for  a  review  of  his  case  came  before  the  Assembly. 
This  was  disposed  of  by  an  order  in  the  House  grant- 
ing a  hearing  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  provided 
the  Council  should  concur.  The  Council  agreed  to 
this,  and  on  that  day  Fry  filed  a  supplementary 
petition,  explanatory  of  the  references  in  the  orig- 
inal petition  to  certain  papers  said  to  have  been 
seized  by  the  Sheriff  of  York  County,  and  withheld 
by  him  from  Fry,  which  he  claimed  were  of  im- 
portance in  this  suit.  He  was  embarrassed  appar- 
ently by  the  fact  that  there  was  no  equity  jurisdiction 
for  the  Courts.  The  papers  in  question  did  not 
affect  the  plaintiff  Westbrook.  They  bore  upon  the 
case,  but  were  executed  by  Waldo  alone,  and  Fry 
wanted  the  General  Court  to  give  him  what  relief 
it  could  from  the  situation  in  which  he  found  him- 
self. On  the  sixth  of  October,  the  Council  dismissed 
this  petition  for  a  review  of  the  case,  in  which  de- 
cision the  House  on  the  ninth  concurred. 

No  reference  is  made  in  these  proceedings  to 
Fry's  proposition  to  benefit  the  Province  by  his 
scheme  for  a  paper  currency,  nor  did  the  Assembly 
seem  to  think  that  "his  great  improvements  in  the 
Province,"  and  his  four  years  of  waiting  while  he 
kept  his  family  "in  a  pretty  genteel  manner,"  enti- 
tled him  to  a  tract  of  waste  land,  for  the  benefit  of 


[xviii]  Introduction 

himself  and  his  New  England  born  son.  It  is  prob- 
able, however,  that  Fry  submitted  his  scheme  to  the 
Assembly,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  he  did  about 
this  time  forward  to  the  Council  a  similar  proposi- 
tion, the  original  of  which  has  been  preserved  in  the 
Archives  and  is  in  the  following  language  : 

To  His  Excellency  Jonathan  Belcher  Esc^"" 
Cap^  Generall  &  GovERNOUR  in  Cheife  in  and 
over  his  majesties  Province  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  In  New  England  &  To  the  Honourable  his 
Majesties  Councill. 

Worthy  &  Honourable  Gentlemen 

I  Have  Humbly  made  bold  To  Lay  before 
you  a  small  scheme;  and  as  theire  is  an  absolute 
nessesity  for  the  Gentlemen  of  this  province  to 
come  into  a  Just  Scheme  for  a  paper  Currency  till 
such  time  as  by  frugallity  and  Dent  of  Industry 
Silver  &  Gold  be  brought  to  Pass  Amongst  us  as  A 
Medium,  it's  plaine  to  a  Demonstration.  If  the 
Gentlemen  will  unite;  they  may  Directly  Emitt 
such  a  sufficient  Sum  by  notes  of  hand,  and  upon 
such  a  solid  footing  as  to  be  Equall  to  Gold  or  Sil- 
ver,  theire  is  no   Person  of  this   Honourable   Board 


Introduction  [^i^l 

but  knows  the  dismall  State  the  Seven  United 
provinces  were  Reduced  too,  not  many  Ages  since; 
butt  they  all  united  as  one  man  and  pursewed  Just 
&  Reasonable  Schemes  and  with  Indefaticable  In- 
dustry, hath  brought  them  to  make  that  Glorious 
figure  they  now  Appear  in  the  world;  they  had  all 
theire  Ruff  Materialls  to  produce  from  Other  Coun- 
trys  for  theire  Manafactury's,  butt  it  is  not  so  with 
us,  we  haveing  them  all  within  our  Selves  ;  and  If 
the  Gentlemen  of  this  province  will  proceed  with 
the  Same  vigour  and  Resolution  as  they  did  may 
in  the  Run  of  A  few  years  Arrive  to  As  Great  A 
Pitch  of  Glory  as  the  United  States  of  Holland,  and 
I  Dont  Doubt  of  seeing  the  New  England  Com- 
pany make  as  Great  a  figure  as  the  East  India 
Company  in  Holland,  which  Boasts  of  Haveing 
Subdued  more  Leagues  of  Country  then  there  are 
Acres  of  Land  in  all  Holland,  of  haveing  Thirty 
Thousand  Souldiers  &  A  Vast  number  of  Ships  in 
its  Service  of  Employing  Commonly  one  hundred 
Thousand  men. 

May  it  Please  your  Honours  haveing  nothing 
more  to  add,  only  wishing  that  Allmighty  God  will 
Inspire  you  with  the  Same  Noble  &  Generous  Reso- 
lution and  Courage  As  Guided  the  States  of  the  once 
poor.  Low  &  Distressed  States  of  Holland,  butt  now 


[xx]  Introduction 

the  most   high  and   mighty  ;    which  is   the   Earnest 

and  Hearty  Prayer 

of  your  Honours  most  Humble 
and  Obedient  Servant  at  Command 

Richard  Fry 
Boston  Gaol 
June 

1739 

This  document  was  originally  folded  and  sealed 
and  was  addressed  on  the  outside  to  **  His  Excel- 
lency Jonathan  Belcher  Esq'^  and  his  majesties  Hon- 
ourable   Council    These    for    Capt    Gibson." 

It  was  sealed  with  an  armorial  seal,  the  impress 
from  which  in  sealing  wax  is  still  distinct.  Mr. 
Henry  E.  Woods,  Commissioner  of  Public  Records 
for  Massachusetts,  tells  me  that  the  description  of  the 
seal  is  as  follows  :  "  Out  of  a  ducal  coronet  or,  an 
heraldic  antelope's  head  argent,  attired,  crined  and 
tufted  of  the  first,"  that  it  was  the  crest  of  the  Frere, 
Freer,  or  Fryer  family  of  London  and  Counties  Es- 
sex and  Worcester,  that  it  is  said  to  have  been 
granted  April  10,  1572,  .and  that  it  was  borne  by 
Sir  John  Fryer,  Bart.,  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in 
1 72 1,  who  died  without  issue.  It  would  seem 
therefore    that    the   seal   was   one   which    Fry    had 


Introduction  [^^^1 

brought   over  with  him,  and   he  very  likely  had   or 
thought  he  had  a  right  to  use  it. 

We  find  Fry  in  jail  in  1739,  where  he  says  he 
had  already  been  for  nearly  two  years.  In  1741  he 
is  still  there.  His  quarrel  with  Waldo  and  West- 
brook  had  ramified  and  he  was  now  being  pursued  by 
one  Massey,  who  apparently  was  in  partnership  with 
him  at  one  time  in  the  manufacture  of  paper  on  the 
Stroudwater.  The  lively  spirit  that  could  main- 
tain all  those  quarrels  and  simultaneously  bombard 
the  General  Court  with  petitions  and  schemes  for  a 
paper  currency,  must  have  been  a  difficult  one  to 
hold  in  restraint  and  to  keep  subject  to  the  disci- 
pline of  the  jail.  When  we  find  that  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1740,  the  prisoners  held  for  debt  forwarded 
to  the  General  Court,  the  complaint  and  remon- 
strance which  is  printed  at  the  end  of  this  volume, 
we  may  be  sure  that  he  had  a  hand  in  getting  it  up. 
This  document  bears  his  signature  as  well  as  several 
others  and  is  interesting  in  that  it  reveals  to  us  the 
fact  that  charitable  persons  were  in  the  habit  of 
contributing  for  the  relief  of  prisoners  held  for  debt. 
A  fence  had  been  built  in  the  prison  yard  which 
made  it  difficult  for  the  prisoners  to  receive  this 
benefit  and  they  claimed  from  the  General  Court 
protection    against     this    invasion    of    their    rights. 


[xxii] 


Introduction 


Moreover  they  complained  specifically  of  mal- 
treatment at  the  hands  of  one  of  the  under-keepers. 
This  matter  was  not  finally  disposed  of  for  some 
months,  and  in  the  meantime  Fry,  not  satisfied  with 
the  progress  of  the  complaint  of  the  prisoners  at 
large,  forwarded  to  the  Council  a  personal  statement 
that  the  under-keeper  in  question  was  a  supporter  of 
the  Land  Bank  and  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
receiving  and  passing  the  bills  of  that  bank.  It 
will  be  observed  that  this  complaint  was  addressed 
to  the  Council  alone.  The  Governor  and  the 
Council  were  hostile  to  the  Land  Bank,  and  the 
Governor  had  by  proclamation  enjoined  all  public 
officials  under  his  control  from  receiving  or  paying 
out  the  bills  known  as  Land  Bank  bills.  On  the 
other  hand  the  House  was  composed  of  supporters 
of  this  scheme  and  Fry  in  thus  appealing  to  the 
prejudices  of  the  Council,  was  likely  to  arouse 
friendly  support  for  the  under-keeper,  if  his  denun- 
ciation became  known  to  the  Representatives. 

It  is  probable  that  he  was  not  absolutely  impecu- 
nious and  that  his  prolonged  residence  in  the  jail 
was  not  altogether  involuntary.  There  are  deposi- 
tions on  file  showing  that  in  1741  two  deputy  sher- 
iffs had  an  interview  with  him  in  the  jail  yard. 
The  one  from  York   had   brought  with   him  certain 


Introduction  [xxiii] 

movable  property  and  packages  which  had  come 
into  his  possession  officially  and  which  he  wished  to 
turn  over  to  Fry.  The  other  was  a  Suffolk  deputy 
and  his  presence  was  not  at  first  to  be  accounted  for. 
Fry  was  evidently  suspicious  of  the  purpose  of  the 
deputies  and  there  was  much  haggling  before  he 
accepted  delivery  of  the  property  in  a  manner  which 
was  satisfactory  to  them,  but  when  he  had  done  so 
the  Suffolk  deputy  immediately  attached  it.  The 
testimony  shows  that  the  packages  contained  bills  of 
public-credit  and,  whether  Fry  was  right  or  wrong, 
we  can  not  repress  a  feeling  of  indignation  that  a 
prisoner  should  have  been  thus  exposed  to  the  trick- 
ery of  these  deputies. 

Still  further  evidence  that  he  had  not  lost  all  his 
property  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  his  widow,  Mar- 
tha Fry  of  Boston,  who  describes  herself  as  "  paper- 
maker,"  took  out  letters  of  administration  on  his 
estate  on  the  twenty -seventh  of  August,  1745. 

In  his  advertisement  he  said  "  I  have  printed  the 
most  beautiful  poems  of  Mr.  Stephen  Duck,  the 
famous  Wiltshire  Poet.  It  is  a  full  demonstration 
to  me  that  the  people  of  New-England  have  a  fine 
taste  for  good  sense  and  polite  learning,  having 
already  sold  1200  of  these  Poems."  Here  we  have 
an  opportunity  to  test  his  literary  taste,  and   to   this 


[xxiv]  Introduction 

test  we  can  add  one  other.       His  name  appears  on 
the  list  of  subscribers  to  Prince's  Chronology. 

Such  are  the  traces  that  this  flighty  adventurer 
has  left  behind  him.  The  fact  that  a  large  part  of 
his  life  in  the  Province  was  spent  either  in  the  back- 
woods at  Stroudwater  or  in  the  jail  at  Boston,  did  not 
prevent  him  from  asserting  that  **  this  most  noble 
Province  of  the  Massachusetts-Bay  is  superior  to  any 
Province  in  his  Majesty's  Dominions  in  America." 
The  fifteen  colonies  which  were  to  arrive  at  as  great 
a  pitch  of  glory  as  the  fifteen  provinces  of  China, 
were  the  thirteen  colonies  which  became  the 
original  thirteen  states  together  with  Nova-Scotia 
and  Newfoundland.  Twenty  per  cent  was  his  fa- 
vorite lure,  and  we  may  be  sure  it  had  its  effect 
upon  Samuel  Waldo.  He  would  sell  "all  sorts  of 
Accompt  Books"  .  .  .  "for  twenty  per  cent 
cheaper  than  they  can  have  them  from  London." 
The  New  River  Company  in  London  paid  twenty 
per  cent  interest.  His  proposed  mills  at  Dorches- 
ter Neck  would  "produce  twenty  per  cent"  He 
pads  his  paper  with  extensive  quotations  from 
Douglass's  Essay  Concerning  Silver  and  Paper 
Currencies,  but  it  is  fair  to  him  to  say  that  he 
gives  a  hint  to  that  effect. 

When  he  was  released  from  jail  we  do  not  know. 


Introduction  [xxv] 

but  it  is  a  singular  sequence  to  this  story  of  litiga- 
tion and  quarrels  that  Waldo  and  Westbrook  subse- 
quently fell  at  loggerheads  and  Westbrook's  prop- 
erty was  seized  and  sold  under  execution.  The 
harshness  of  this  treatment  aroused  the  sympathy  of 
Westbrook's  friends  and  stirred  up  much  indigna- 
tion against  Waldo. 

At  the  time  when  Fry  submitted  his  scheme  for 
a  paper-currency,  the  Province  was  exclusively  de- 
pendent upon  the  bills  of  public  credit  emitted  by 
the  Provincial  government,  for  a  medium  of  trade. 
Originally  put  forth  in  1690,  in  the  days  of  the 
interim  government  inaugurated  after  the  deposition 
of  Andros,  for  the  purpose  of  settling  obligations 
which  the  existing  government  could  not  hope  to 
meet  by  ordinary  taxation,  the  facility  with  which 
they  were  accepted  by  the  people  had  led  the  Pro- 
vincial government  to  adopt  them  and  it  had  come 
to  pass  that  the  Province  settled  all  current  obliga- 
tions by  the  emission  of  bills  of  public  credit. 
With  each  emission  of  bills  there  was  a  promise 
on  the  part  of  the  government  that  on  a  certain 
future  year  taxes  would  be  laid  to  call  in  the 
same  amount  of  bills  as  were  then  emitted.  It  had 
resulted  that  the  annual  taxes  were  laid  not  for 
current  expenses  but  to  call   in  outstanding  bills  of 


fxxvil  Introduction 

public  credit.      The  facility  with  which  the  Prov- 
ince could   thus  meet   its  obligations,   had  led   to  a 
steady  increase  of  the  number  of  bills  in  circulation. 
Silver  had  been  driven  out  of  use  in  the  Province. 
The  example  of  Massachusetts  had  been  followed  by 
other  colonies  and  the  great  excess  of  bills  in  circu- 
lation had  put  them  at  a  heavy  discount.       At  the 
time  when    Fry  submitted    his   scheme   there  were 
outstanding    two   classes    of    bills,    known  as    "  old 
tenor  "  and   **  new  tenor."     The  original  bills  were 
stated  upon  their  face  "  to  be  equal  in  value  to  mon- 
ey."    They  were  a  legal  tender,  and  were  receivable 
by  the  government  in  all  payments.     The  value  of 
the  new  bills  was  stated  in  given  weights  of  silver 
or  gold  at  a  fixed  price  per  ounce.      Their  function 
was  the  same  as  the  old  bills,  but  as  their  value  was 
stated  at  par  in  bullion,  and  the  old  bills  were  cir- 
culating at  a  discount  of  nearly  seventy-five  per  cent., 
it  was  provided  that  the  new  bills  should  be  received 
for  taxes  on  the  basis  of  one  of  the  new  for  three  of 
the  old.       The    depreciation   of   the    Massachusetts 
old  tenor  currency  at  this  time  was  greatly  in  excess 
of  the  natural  depreciation  which  would  have  been 
caused    by    the   emissions   of   that    Province   alone. 
Orders  had   been  issued   by  the  Privy  Council  that 
the  number  of  bills   in   circulation  must   be  steadily 


Introduction  [xxvii] 

reduced  so  that  by  1741  the  Province  would  have 
outstanding  only  an  amount  equal  to  the  needs 
for  the  annual  expenses  of  the  government  and  these 
alone  were  to  constitute  the  circulating  medium. 
Belcher,  the  Royal  Governor  of  the  Province,  faith- 
fully endeavored  to  carry  out  these  orders,  and 
steadily  reduced  the  amount  of  Massachusetts  bills 
in  circulation.  Nevertheless,  silver  continued  to 
rise,  owing  to  the  bills  which  flowed  in  from 
Rhode  Island,  to  fill  the  gap  occasioned  by  the 
Massachusetts  withdrawals.  The  Governor  in 
Rhode  Island  was  elective  and  was  not  quite  so 
subservient   to   Royal   orders. 

It  was  realized  by  all  that  the  amount  of  bills 
to  which  the  Privy  Council  had  undertaken  to 
limit  the  Province  after  1741,  even  if  they  should 
circulate  at  par,  was  inadequate  and  efforts  were  put 
forth  in  many  directions  to  furnish  relief  to  the 
impending  situation.  Fantastic  schemes  were  pro- 
pounded in  abundance  by  amateur  financiers.  There 
had  been  for  several  years  a  determined  effort  on  the 
part  of  certain  Boston  capitalists  to  get  back  to  a 
specie  basis.  Fry,  in  the  portion  of  his  scheme 
which  quotes  from  the  Essay  Concerning  Silver  and 
Paper  Currencies,  gives  Douglass's  resume  of  the 
merchants'  notes   of  1733.     The  idea  of  the   mer- 


[xxviiil  Introduction 

chants  was  to  check  the  inflow  of  Rhode  Island 
bills  by  refusing  to  receive  them,  and  as  the  gov- 
ernment was  simultaneously  reducing  the  amount  of 
Massachusetts  bills,  to  supply  the  vacancy  occasioned 
by  the  refusal  to  accept  the  Rhode  Island  bills  and 
the  reduction  of  the  Massachusetts  bills,  by  a  cur- 
rency of  their  own,  based  upon  the  credits,  joint 
and  several,  of  the  signers  of  the  bills.  Silver  was 
then  worth  19s.  an  ounce  in  old  tenor,  and  the 
new  bills  were  to  be  redeemed  in  silver  on  this  basis 
in  three  instalments,  three-sevenths  at  the  end  of 
three  years,  three-sevenths  at  the  end  of  six  years, 
and  the  balance  at  the  end  of  ten  years.  There 
was  no  capitalization  of  the  company.  The  sub- 
scribers merely  borrowed  the  notes  and  agreed  to 
use  them  in  trade.  They  also  agreed  to  refuse  to 
receive  Rhode  Island  bills.  Their  idea  was  that 
they  could  by  these  redemptions  in  silver  gradu- 
ally furnish  specie  for  use  in  trade.  Their  hopes 
were  checked  by  the  sudden  rise  in  silver,  which 
occurred  just  after  they  had  launched  their  scheme. 
In  1738,  and  again  in  1739,  attempts  were  made 
to  float  a  loan  of  Province  bills  which,  like  the 
new  tenor  bills,  had  their  value  stated  in  silver  at  a 
fixed  price.  These  bills  were  to  be  borrowed  by 
certain  underwriters  who  were   to  pay   annually  lor 


Introduction  [xxix] 

ten  years  to  the  Province  for  each^i,ooo  borrowed 
^105  in  silver  at  6s.  8d.  per  ounce.  These  schemes 
failed  for  lack  of  patronage. 

In  1739,  the  time  was  rapidly  approaching  when, 
under  the  Royal  Order,  there  would  be  at  command 
of  the  government  only  about  ^30,000  of  the  bills 
of  the  Province  for  a  circulating  medium  for  trade. 
The  Representatives  in  the  summer  of  that  year 
appointed  a  committee  which  was  authorized  to 
receive  in  the  recess  of  the  Court  any  scheme  or 
proposals  from  any  persons  whomsoever  for  the  fur- 
nishing a  further  medium  of  trade  in  such  a  way 
and  manner  as  that  the  value  thereof  might  be 
maintained.  It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that 
the  Assembly  was  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind  to 
entertain  propositions  emanating  from  any  source 
and  it  was  to  be  apprehended  that  they  would  not 
exercise  much  discrimination  in  considering  the 
schemes  which  should  be  submitted. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  Land 
Bank  and  Manufactory  Scheme  applied  for  incorpo- 
ration. This  scheme  was  based  upon  a  plan 
which  had  been  before  the  public  in  one  form  or 
another  for  many  years.  The  company  was  to  emit 
its  notes,  the  denominational  values  of  which  were 
stated  to  be  in  silver  at   6s.  8d.  an  ounce;    the  notes 


[xxx]  Introduction 

were  payable  in  twenty  years  and  then  might  be 
redeemed  in  produce  of  various  sorts.  Subscribers 
to  the  scheme  agreed  to  borrow  these  notes  and  to 
give  security  therefor  by  mortgage  of  real  estate  or 
pledge  of  personal  property.  Incredible  as  it  may 
seem  this  scheme  found  followers  throughout  the 
Province,  and  a  House  of  Representatives  was 
chosen  which  was  composed  largely  of  its  patrons. 
Fortunately  the  Governor  and  Council  were  equally 
hostile,  and  under  their  stimulation  the  Boston 
merchants  organized  a  counter-scheme,  which  was 
known  as  the  Silver  Bank.  Their  plan  was  some- 
what similar  to  that  of  the  company  which  issued 
the  merchants'  notes  of  1733.  They  emitted  notes 
on  the  credit  of  their  personal  responsibility.  Ac- 
cepting the  discount  of  the  Province  bills  as  the 
basis  on  which  the  notes  should  be  emitted,  they 
promised  to  receive  them  on  a  sliding  scale  of  im- 
provement in  the  discount,  which  would  bring  the 
value  of  the  bills,  measured  by  the  price  of  silver 
stated  on  their  face,  from  28s.  ^d,  in  1741  to  20s. 
in  1755.  There  is  no  occasion  to  follow  the  for- 
tunes of  these  two  schemes  to  their  abrupt  and 
forcible  closure,  through  the  medium  of  parlia- 
mentary interference.  We  have  already  got  beyond 
the   date    of  Fry's   scheme  and    reference   to   these 


Introduction  [xxxi] 

is  made  simply  to  show   the  kind  of  schemes  for  a 
paper  currency  that  were   then  considered. 

It  is  plain  that,  had  there  been  a  combination  of 
wealthy  merchants  to  develop  the  regions  in  Boston 
which  Fry  pointed  out  as  suitable  for  the  purpose, 
their  notes  might  have  been  as  acceptable  as  those  of 
the  Land  or  Silver  Banks.  He  had,  however,  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  build  on,  and  like  all  vagabond  in- 
tellects ranging  at  large,  he  occasionally  uttered  a 
profound  truth.  How  prophetic,  what  he  said  of 
the  Mill  Pond?  We  have  to  study  our  ancient 
maps  of  Boston  to  find  where  the  pond  was.  It  has 
proved  to  be  as  he  said,  "  a  fine  beautiful  tract  of 
Land,"  "  More  fit  to  build  houses  on."  A  portion 
of  the  land  which  he  wished  to  improve  as  the  basis 
of  his  scheme  is  covered  with  warehouses,  and  scat- 
tered over  a  part  of  it  are  buildings  erected  by  the 
Boston  Wharf  Company.  If  this  Company  had 
been  in  existence  in  1739,  perhaps  he  might  have 
utilized  it  for  his  purpose  and  thus  have  posed  as  a 
benefactor  instead  of  a  prisoner. 


The   Petition   of  Richard    Fry 

with 

A   Scheme 

for  a 

Paper  Currency 


This  Petition  fills  two  pages,  the  second  numbered  ii,  of  a  single 
folio  sheet,  which  is  folded  around  the  Scheme  for  a  Paper  Currency 
so  that  the  blank  leaf  forms  the  back  cover.  That  this  is  the  way 
it  was  originally  issued  is  likely,  although  the  breaks  in  the  fold  of 
the  first  page  of  the  Scheme^  in  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library 
copy,  show  that  this  was  at  some  time  the  outside  of  the  pamphlet. 

The  Scheme  occupies  ten  numbered  folio  pages,  on  three  single 
sheets,  with  the  signature  marks  B,  C,  D.  The  Postscript  is  on 
pages  1 1  and  12. 


fs-^o^  /^^ttCV  f^fl^sx  <»^u\\  f^^\t\\   ^^ovN\  fS^'&i\  r^i'duA    i^-ouA  ^-..o«A   n-.^'v^X   r^.fZv'-V    r^:^ii\\  <^^v\\  f9^%A    f^ffS^Sk 

>^  >^  4^  4^  4^  >^  >^  >;^  '^  >;^  4^  ^^  >^  •^  >9^  >^ 


To  His  Excellency 
JONATHAN    BELCHER,   Esq; 

Captain  General  and  Governour  in  Chief 
in  and  over  His  Majesty's  Province  of  the 
Massachusetts-Bay  in  New- England. 

To  the  Honourable  His  Majesty's  Council. 
And  the  Honourable  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, in  General  Court  assembled  at 
Boston. 

The  Petition  of  Richard  Fry  of  Boston. 

Humbly  Sheweth^ 

HE  late  great  Piece  of  Justice  done 
unto  your  most  humble  Petitioner, 
in  dismissing  the  High  Sheriff  of 
Tork's  most  unreasonable  and  un- 
just Petition,  imboldens  me  to  lay 
before  you  the  present  great  Hard- 
ships and  Sufferings  I  labour  under :  And  know- 
ing the  Justice  and  Wisdom  of  this  Great  As- 
sembly, flatters  me  with  great  Hopes  and  Expecta- 
tions of  having   my    Desires  and   Requests  granted. 


[36]  Richard  Fry's  Petition 

I  am  now  confin'd  in  his  Majesty's  Goal  at  the 
Suit  of  Mr.  Samuel  Waldo  of  Bostoii,  and  Thomas 
Westbrook  of  Falmouth ^  Esq ;  for  Seventy  Pounds 
Sterling,  obtained  against  me  at  the  last  Superior 
Court  held  at  7^ork.  Your  most  humble  Petitioner 
in  fact  saith,  that  for  want  of  one  Writing  or  In- 
strument, under  the  Hand  of  Mr.  Sa??iuel  Waldo  of 
Boston^  which  was  taken  away  from  your  Petitioner 
by  Ahrahatn  Tyler ^  the  Under-Sheriff  for  the  County 
of  Torky  under  Colour  of  an  Execution  from  Mr. 
Samuel  Waldo  of  Boston^  and  hath  taken  and  con- 
verted the  said  Writing  or  Instrument  to  his  own 
Use,  to  the  great  Damage  of  your  Petitioner.  Your 
most  humble  Petitioner  further  observes.  It  has  been 
always  the  Wisdom  of  this  great  Assembly  to  reward 
all  those  that  have  any  ways  served  this  Province, 
with  Rewards  and  Favours.  Your  Petitioner  in- 
dented with  Mr.  Samuel  Waldo  in  the  Year  1731  in 
Londony  to  have  built  within  ten  Months  after  my 
Arrival  in  New-England^  a  Paper  Mill.  Your  Pe- 
titioner arrived  in  New-England  in  the  Year  1731, 
and  waited  four  Years  wholly  at  his  own  Expence, 
till  such  Time  as  the  said  Mills  were  built.  Your 
Petitioner,  willing  to  promote  the  Good  of  this 
Country,  drew  a  Plan  for  sundry  Sorts  of  Mills  to 
be  built,  which  was  across  Presumscot  River  in  Fal- 


Richard  Fry's  Petition  [37] 

mouth;    which    Scheme    the  said    Waldo   and    West- 
brook  came  into,  and  built  the  said  Mills.     And  your 
Petitioner  sent  for  one   Mr.  John  Collier  from   Eng- 
land, which  took  the  Lease  of  the  said  Mills  at  Two 
hundred  Pounds  Sterling  per  Ann.   for    twenty    one 
Years.     Your  Petitioner  was  to  pay  Sixty  four  Pounds 
Sterling  per  Ann.  for  twenty-one  Years,  for  the  Paper 
Mills.       And    the  said    Samuel   Waldo   and    Thomas 
Westbrook    confessed    before    Capt.    Greenwood.,    Mr. 
George  Cradock  and  Mr.  Bra?idon,  Merchants  of  Bos- 
ton,  that  they  held  and  owned  in  the  Township  of 
Falmouth,  Fifteen  thousand  Acres  of  Land,  and  that 
one   Acre  with  another  was    Three   Pounds   more   in 
Value  for  the  Improvement  of  these  Mills.     But  the 
said    Waldo   and   Westbrook   not   content   with   their 
Improvement  of   Two  hundred  and  sixty  four  Pounds 
Sterling   per  Ann.   and    the  vast    Improvements    of 
their  Land,  they  coveted  the  Improvement  of  all  the 
Mills,  and  paid   Mr.  John  Collier  Six  hundred  Pounds 
for  his   Lease,   the  said   Collier  finding  what  Sort  of 
Men    he    had    to   deal   withal,  sold    them    his   said 
Lease.     The  said   Waldo  and   Westbrook  offer' d  your 
most   humble  Petitioner  Five  hundred  Pounds  for  the 
Loan  of  my  Lease,  but   I   would  not  comply  with 
their   most    unreasonable   and    unjust    Request :    So 
they    have    entred    into    a    Combination    with    the 


[38]  Richard  Fry's  Petition 

Deputy-Sheriff  of  Toj'k^  Abraham  Tyler,  under  Col- 
our ot  an  Execution  hath  violently  entred  my 
Mills,  and  have  converted  all  my  Substance  to  their 
own  Use,  and  have  committed  my  Body  to  Boston 
Goal.  Your  most  humble  Petitioner  in  fact  saith, 
he  is  not  indebted  one  Farthing  either  to  Samuel 
Waldo,  Thomas  Westbrook  or  Abraha?n  Tyler,  but  the 
said  Waldo,  Westbrook  and  Tyler  have  proceeded 
contrary  to  all  Law,  Justice,  Reason  or  Equity  now 
subsisting  in  the  Christian  World.  Your  most 
humble  Petitioner  prays  to  have  Leave  to  bring 
his  Writ  of  Review  to  be  tried  in  the  County  of 
Suffolk,  at  the  next  Superiour  Court  to  be  held  in 
August,  against  the  said  Samuel  Waldo  and  Thomas 
Westbrook  :  The  Reason  is,  because  I  am  confined 
in  Boston  Goal,  and  my  Witnesses  are  in  Boston.  Your 
Petitioner  further  prays,  for  his  great  Improvements 
in  this  Province,  and  his  leaving  his  own  Native 
Country,  and  his  great  Charges  in  coming  over  and 
waiting  four  Years  at  his  own  Expence.  (And  there 
is  no  Member  of  this  Honourable  House  but  must 
know  the  keeping  a  Family  in  a  pretty  genteel 
Manner,  four  Years,  must  amount  to  a  large  Sum.) 
Your  humble  Petitioner  prays  to  have  a  Tract  of 
the  Waste  Lands  granted  him,  belonging  to  this 
Province;    which  in  time  may  be  serviceable  to   his 


Richard  Fry's  Petition  [39] 

New-England  born  Son,  'James-Brook  Fry:  Which 
said  Son  GOD  in  his  good  Providence  hath  given 
to  your  Petitioner  in  these  his  great  Troubles  and 
Afflictions.  Your  most  humble  Petitioner  leaveth 
all  his  Desires  and  Requests  to  the  great  Wisdom 
and  Order  of  this  great  and  august  Assembly. 

Ki chard  Fry. 


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►ja»    ^^^   ^^<f  •a*'  •h*^  ^a*    •a*  •xfc*'   •^'^  *A* 


SCHEME 


FOR    A 


Paper  Currency. 


m 


m 


EADING  in  News-Papers, 

the  last  sitting  of  the  Honourable 
Assembly  of  this  Province,  of  a 
Petition  sign'd  by  a  great  Number 
of  the  Freeholders  of  this  Town, 
was  presented  to  the  Court,  for 
Relief  under  their  present  difficult  and  distressing 
Circumstances,  for  want  of  a  sufficient  Medium ; 
whereby  the  Trade  and  Business  of  the  Town  is 
very  much  decayed,  Law-Suits  increased,  and  Cash 
to   purchase   the    Necessaries    of   Life    hard    to    be 


[42]  A  Currency  Scheme 

attained,  even  by  many  of  good  Estates  among 
them.  It  must  plainly  appear,  to  a  Mathematical 
Demonstration,  that  nothing  can  help  or  relieve 
this  Town  out  of  its  present  great  Difficulties  and 
bad  Circumstances,  but  Frugality  and  Industry,  and 
pursuing  just  and  reasonable  Schemes.  For  any 
reasonable  Man  living  to  think  that  the  Printing  a 
few  Rheams  of  Paper,  without  the  least  Shadow  of 
Foundation,  and  calling  it  Money,  will  relieve  them, 
they  are  vastly  mistaken,  it  will  only  lead  them  into 
a  vast  Labyrinth  of  Evils. 

The  following  Scheme  will  appear  to  a  full 
Demonstration  what  vast  Service  it  will  be  to  this 
Town. 

It  must  be  allowed  that  a  Number  can  perform 
more  than  a  few,  which  is  just  and  reasonable:  For 
the  Gentlemen  in  England^  Holland  and  other  Parts 
of  the  Trading  World,  form  themselves  into  Soci- 
eties and  Companies  for  the  carrying  on  vast 
Designs  in  Trade  and  Commerce.  The  Dutch 
are  the  only  People  who  have  got  Money  by  their 
first  Scheme:  Their  Maxims  are  thus,  when  they 
have  a  Mind  to  bring  any  Manufactury  into  their 
Country,  they  always  procure  the  best  Workmen 
from  that  Country  where  that  Manufactury  is  car- 
ried on  to  the  utmost  Perfection.      Having  procured 


A  Currency  Scheme  [43  I 

Workmen,  they  perform  to  those  Men  their  En- 
gagements and  Contracts  to  the  least  Tittle:  And 
those  Workmen  finding  themselves  justly  dealt 
withal,  they  directly  bring  that  Manufactury  to  as 
great  Perfection  as  it  is  carried  on  in  the  Country 
they  came  from.  And  thus  from  these  wise 
Maxims,  which  the  Dutch  have  followed,  they  have 
brought  them  to  that  glorious  Figure  which  they 
now  make  in  the  World. 

NOW  to  my  Schefne.  There  is  the  compleat- 
est  Place  for  the  Erecting  and  Building  Twenty 
Mills  on  of  any  Place  I  ever  saw  in  my  Life;  it  is 
from  the  Warehouse  of  Job  Lewis,  Esq  ;  near  the 
Fortification,  across  to  his  Warehouse  on  Dorchester 
Point.  I  suppose,  was  it  possible,  that  such  a  Place 
could  be  procured  as  near  Amsterda?n  as  this  is  to 
Boston,  the  Dutch  would  give  One  hundred  Thousand 
Pounds  Sterling  for  such  a  convenient  Place. 

Our  Mother  Country  will  be  much  pleas'd  with 
this  Scheme,  because  not  one  Mill  will  interfere 
with  any  of  the  Manufacturies  in  Great  Britatji. 
I  shall  explain  the  great  Benefit  and  Advantage  of 
sundry  of  these  Mills ;  which  by  the  Parity  of 
Reason  will  explain  the  rest.  It's  plain  to  a  Dem- 
onstration, that  those  Corn  Mills  which  are  erected 
on  the  Mill  Pond,  will  in  a  few  Years  be  of  no  Ser- 


[44]  A  Currency  Scheme 

vice.  The  Reason  is,  Because  the  Pond  fills  so  fast 
with  Filth,  that  there  will  not  be  sufficient  Water 
to  carry  on  the  said  Mills.  And  such  a  fine,  beau- 
tiful Tract  of  Land  will  be  more  fit  to  build  Streets 
of  Houses  on ;  and  ten  Times  the  Improvement 
than  they  are  at  present  employ'd  in.  And  these 
Corn  Mills,  (to  be  built  on  the  aforementioned 
Place)  may  be  built  to  the  same  advantage  as 
in  England.  The  Corn  Mills  have  been  vastly  im- 
proved in  England  with  Twenty  Years.  And 
these  Mills  being  built  to  the  same  Perfection  they 
are  now  built  in  England,  they  will  grind  more 
Flour  by  six  lb.  Weight  out  of  a  Bushel  of  Wheat, 
and  make  better  Flour,  than  any  Mill  now  built  in 
America.  (For  all  the  Mills  now  built  in  America, 
are  built  in  the  old  Form.)  So  that  the  Merchants 
of  Boston  may  purchase  Wheat  from  the  Wheat 
Countries,  and  supply  the  West-Indies  Cheaper  than 
either  New-Tor k  or  Philadelphia.  For  the  Truth 
of  these  Facts  I  appeal  to  the  Millers  and  Bakers  of 
Boston.  A  Number  of  Saw-Mills  for  the  Ship 
Builders  and  Joiners,  they  will  be  able  to  demon- 
strate. Leather  Mills,  the  Gentlemen  Leather- 
Sellers  will  be  able  to  inform.  Linseed  Oil  Mills, 
the  Consumers  of  Oil  will  be  able  to  inform. 
There  being  vast  Quantities  of  Iron   Bog  Ore  at  the 


A  Currency  Scheme  [45] 

Eastward,  Mills  to  run  into  Piggs  for  Great-Britain. 
Bark  Mills  for  grinding  Tanners  Bark,  both  for 
home  Consumption  and  Ireland,  several  Gentlemen 
will  be  able  to  inform.  A  Number  of  Logwood 
Mills,  a  Number  of  Merchants  will  be  able  to 
inform  :  And  so  by  a  Parity  of  Reason  all  the  rest 
of  the  Mills  are  explained.  The  Place  lies  entirely 
on  Water  Carriage,  and  has  a  constant  Supply  of 
Water  all  the  Summer,  which  is  the  only  Time  to 
perform  Business.  It  has  already  been  justly  Sur- 
veyed, and  a  Plan  taken.  And  was  a  Number  of 
Gentlemen  to  be  incorporated  by  the  General  As- 
sembly, they  might  bring  this  Scheme  to  Perfection 
immediately,  to  the  vast  Service  of  this  Town  and 
Province  in  general.  I  can  with  Modesty  say,  this 
is  the  best  Scheme  that  ever  was  on  the  Tapis  since 
the  Colony  has  been  settled.  It  is  not  like  the 
Uncertainty  of  the  Mine  Adventurers,  but  as  soon 
as  these  Mills  are  built  they  will  produce  a  certain 
Profit,  as  sure  as  the  Sun  that  moves.  The  Corn 
Mills  at  Bow  near  London,  with  twelve  Pair  of 
Stones,  are  let  at  Nine  hundred  Pounds  Sterling  a 
Year,  and  I  will  Mathematically  prove,  that  twelve 
Pair  of  Stones  built  on  the  abovementioned  Place 
will  produce  as  much  Profit  as  the  Mills  at  Bow. 
And    such   a   fine    Scituation    for    Mills   cannot    be 


[46  J  A  Currency  Scheme 

better  in  any  Place  in  the  World.  There  is  now 
an  absolute  Necessity  for  coming  into  a  just  Scheme 
in  order  to  have  Money  pass  for  a  Supply  of  our 
common  Necessities,  till  such  time  as  by  our  Fru- 
gality and  Dent  of  Industry  we  bring  Silver  and 
Gold  to  pass  as  a  proper  Medium ;  which  was  the 
real  Design  of  his  Majesty's  Royal  Instruction  not 
to  make  any  more  Paper  Bills,  which  is  absolutely 
a  common  Cheat,  let  them  be  made  in  any  Form  or 
Shape  whatever,  without  a  solid  Foundation  to  sup- 
port their  Value.  Was  a  Number  of  Gentlemen  to 
be  incorporated,  and  the  whole  Body  liable  to  be 
sued  as  one  Man,  their  Notes  of  Hand  would  pass 
better  than  any  Money  to  be  made  by  the  Province, 
because  the  Profits  arising  by  the  Mills  would  be  a 
solid  Foundation.  I  shall  only  mention  one  Com- 
pany in  London,  that  is  the  New-River  Company, 
which  pays  them  Twenty  per  Cent.  Interest ;  then, 
would  not  the  Notes  of  such  a  Company  pass  equal 
with  Bank  Notes,  or  Gold  or  Silver.  I  will  Mathe- 
matically demonstrate  to  any  Man  living,  that  these 
Mills  will  produce  Twenty  per  Cent,  then  conse- 
quently their  Notes  must  pass  equal  to  Silver  and 
(iold.  All  Mechanicks  are  now  brought  to  be 
proved  by  mathematical  Demonstrations,  so  that  it 
is  impossible  to  err  in    building    these    Mills,    for   it 


A  Currency  Scheme  [47] 

may  be  computed  to  a  single  Farthing   what  each 
Mill  will  cost.     And  these  Mills  being  built  accord- 
ing  to    the    Mathematicks,    then    it    may    be    easily 
demonstrated   what  each    Mill    will   produce  yearly, 
so  that  the  Company  may  proceed  like  wise  Master- 
Builders.      And   when   the  above   Mills  are  brought 
to  Perfection,  a  vast   Number  of  great  Schemes  may 
be  laid  before  the  Company,  which  they  will  natur- 
ally come  into :    For  we  have  a  common  Proverb, 
Mathematical    Demonstrations    can    no    Man    gainsay. 
And  it  would   certainly  be  for  the  Interest  of  New- 
Englaiid   not    to  make  one   Paper   Bill    more:    The 
Reason  is,  The  Notes  of  Hand   made  by  the  Com- 
pany will  answer  the  Ends  and  Purposes  of  purchas- 
ing all  the  Necessaries  of  Life ;    and  these  Notes  not 
being   made  a  Tender  in   Law,    it  would    absolutely 
oblige  the   Merchants   to  bring   Gold  and   Silver  to 
answer  all  Specialties,  or  else  it  would  be  impossible 
for  them  to  carry  on  Trade  and  Merchandize.      For 
so  long   as   the  Assembly  continues    to  make    Paper 
Bills    the    whole    Publick    will    depend    on    them. 
Each  Gentleman  will  flatter  himself  he  shall  be  able 
to    procure    as    many    Bills    as    will    answer    all    his 
Designs.      But  any  Man   that   knows  the  just  State 
of  the   Province  must    allow  that  according    to  its 
present  Scituation  it  requires  a   Million  ready  Specie 


[4S]  A  Currency  Scheme 

to  carry  on  the  Trade  of  the  Province:  It  is  there- 
fore a  meer  Jest  to  make  a  few  Paper  Bills,  think- 
ing that  will  answer  the  End,  it  will  only  embarrass 
and  entirely  Ruin  hundreds  of  Families,  and  bring 
on  Law-Suits  almost  numberless.  It  must  be  al- 
low'd  that  a  Merchant  managed  his  Affairs  with 
Prudence  and  Caution,  when  he  has  brought  his 
Trading  to  such  a  Point  that  his  Profits  may  be 
large,  and  his  Loss  not  considerable.  But  should  a 
Man  of  Traffick  put  Twenty  thousand  Pounds  on 
board  a  leaky  Vessel,  and  send  it  to  the  Spanish 
West-Indies,  through  as  many  Dangers  as  there  are 
Shelves  in  the  Sea,  or  Points  in  the  Compass,  with 
the  bare  Hopes  of  gaining  Six  Pence,  would  not  all 
Mankind  post  up  such  a  Merchant  for  a  mad  Man : 
I  leave  the  Application. 

This  Body  Politick  may  be  justly  compared  to 
a  Merchant  beginning  the  World  with  One  huji- 
dred  Thousand  Pounds,  and  directly  advanceth  to 
a  Trade  that  requires  One  Million  ready  Specie. 
Notwithstanding  the  Merchant  has  an  exceeding 
good  Character  in  all  Parts  of  the  trading  World, 
and  his  Credit  supported  a  vast  many  Years  with  a 
fair  Shew,  yet  in  the  End  it  will  be  the  intire  Ruin, 
not  only  of  himself,  but  of  vast  Numbers  of  other 
Men.      The  Reason  is,    It  is    plain    that   for  want  of 


A  Currency  Scheme  [49] 

a  sufficient  Sum  to  carry  on  his  Trade,  he  is  often 
obliged  to  part  with  his  Goods  for  less  than  Prime 
Cost,  besides  making  use  of  Userers  and  griping 
Extortioners,  which  will  always  Prey  on  him  like 
so  many  Vultures  or  Horseleach's  :  And  the  poor 
honest  Gentleman,  so  far  from  growing  Rich  for 
the  Reward  of  his  great  Pains  and  Industry,  not 
only  sinks  his  own  private  Patrimony  of  One  hun- 
dred thousafid  Pounds^  but  a  great  many  Hundreds 
besides.  His  Character  is  entirely  ruin'd  in  all 
Parts  of  the  Trading  World,  and  his  End  may  be 
in  Ruin  and  Want.  And  his  Substance,  with  other 
honest  Gentlemen's,  who  consign'd  to  him,  got  into 
the  Hands  of  base  unworthy  Knaves,  who  have 
watched  all  Opportunities  to  take  Advantage  of  the 
poor  Gentleman's  Necessity. 

His  Excellency  JONATHAN  BELCHER,  Esq  ; 
our  Governor,  hath  twice  recommended  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  the  employing  a  Number  of  Men  to 
take  an  exact  Survey  of  this  Province,  and  the  Ex- 
tent of  its  Bounds.  For  this  Province  is  hardly 
known  by  our  Mother  Country.  And  I  can  with 
humble  Modesty  observe,  that  the  State  of  this 
Province  was  never  yet  fairly  stated. 

Our  Mother  Country  never  was  so  full  of  Men 
and   Money  since   the  glorious   House  of  Hanover 


fro]  A  Currency  Scheme 

came  to  reign  over  us.  And  was  a  just  Plan  to  be 
taken  of  this  Province,  and  laid  before  the  Nobility, 
Gentry  and  substantial  Farmers  in  England,  the 
young  Branches  will  bring  their  Fortunes  into 
New-England  and  purchase  Lands.  For  it  may  be 
Mathematically  demonstrated,  for  a  Gentleman  to 
bring  to  New-England  Five  thousand  Pounds  Sterling, 
and  lay  it  out  in  Lands,  it  would  in  twenty  Years 
time  be  worth  Thirty  thousand  Pounds  Sterling,  if 
they  are  improved  after  the  same  Manner  they  are 
in  England.  For  the  Lands  there  are  prodigiously 
improved  within  these  Twenty  Years  past :  For  a 
vast  Quantity  of  Land  was  then  Let  for  Eighteen 
Pe?ice  per  Acre,  which  are  now  Let  for  Twenty 
Shillings  per  Acre.  And  I  will  demonstrate  to  any 
Man  living,  that  the  Lands  in  New-Englatid  are  as 
good  as  they  are  in  Old. 

As  I  am  obliged  to  go  to  England  with  all  my 
Law  Suits,  for  want  of  a  Court  of  Equity  in  this 
Country :  And  being  forc'd  to  stay  some  Time 
there  before  I  can  bring  my  Affairs  to  a  final  Lssue, 
I  will  imploy  my  Time  to  lay  down  before  our 
Nobility,  Gentry  and  Farmers  The  Glorious 
State  oe  this  Province,  and  what  noble 
Improvements  they  may  make  for  their  young 
Branches.      Their    Fortunes  at    home  make   but   an 


A  Currency  Scheme  [S^] 

indifferent  Figure  there,  but  if  laid  out  in  New- 
England  will  with  industrious  Improvement  produce 
as  noble  Estates  as  the  Originals  they  sprang  from. 
And  it  is  not  in  the  least  to  be  doubted  but  his 
Royal  Majesty  and  Parliament  will  encourage  such 
a  noble  Undertaking,  so  much  for  the  Good  of 
OUR  Mother  Country  in  Trade  and  Commerce. 
Our  young  Nobility,  Gentry  and  Farmers  com- 
ing now  to  New-Efiglafidy  is  not  like  the  Gentle- 
mens  first  Settling  this  howling  Wilderness,  at  vast 
Expence,  and  the  almost  insupportable  Difficulties. 
But  those  worthy  good  Gentlemen  have  fairly  paved 
the  Way.  That  as  soon  as  our  Gentry  shall  arrive 
at  Boston^  they  will  find  no  difference,  either  in 
Provision  or  polite  Conversation,  (without  the  least 
Disparagement  to  any  Part  of  Great- Britain)  for 
their  Money  may  be  improved  Fifty  per  Cent,  more 
than  they  can  be  in  Great-Britain^  if  it  is  improved 
either  in  Lands  or  Manufacturies.  And  I  suppose 
further.  Was  not  the  Gentlemen  of  this  Province  to 
come  into  my  Scheme  of  the  Mills,  I  will  lay  all 
my  Schemes  mathematically  before  several  of  our 
Companies  in  London,  and  they  will  as  certainly 
come  into  the  said  Scheme,  as  sure  as  the  Sun  that 
moves.  For  they  are  all  so  full  of  Money,  that 
shew  them  mathematical    Demonstrations,  and   they 


[r2l  A  Currency  Scheme 

will  venture  their  Substance  to  the  Ends  of  the 
Earth ;  so  I  can  with  humble  Modesty  say,  pro- 
vided Almighty  GOD  spare  my  Life  to  bring  my 
Projections  to  Perfection,  to  the  infinite  Advantage 
of  our  Mother  Country,  and  to  the  great  Benefit  of 
New-England.  For  I  may  justly  observe,  this  most 
noble  Province  of  the  Massachusetts-Bay  is  superior 
to  any  Province  in  his  Majesty's  Dominions  in 
America,  both  for  Health  and  to  be  improved. 
And  I  further  observe,  these  young  Branches  of  our 
Nobility,  Gentry  and  substantial  Farmers,  bringing 
large  Substance,  would  be  able  to  procure  all  Sorts 
of  Naval  Stores  for  Great-Britain,  and  entirely  pre- 
vent the  Baltick  Trade.  And  there  is  no  Merchant 
but  what  knows  that  immense  Trade,  so  much 
taken  Care  of  by  the  Northern  Princes,  particularly 
the  Czar  of  Muscovy,  after  he  came  home  from  his 
Travels,  (having  taken  a  Tour  thro'  France,  Eng- 
land and  Holland)  observing  what  mighty  Riches 
they  acquired  by  Trade  and  Merchandize,  and 
forming  a  just  Idea  of  these  Countries,  that  they 
could  raise  but  small  Quantities  of  Naval  Stores; 
and  having  large  Dominions,  he  immediately  gave 
Orders  to  all  his  Subjects  to  raise  prodigious  Quan- 
tities of  Naval  Stores,  and  he  being  an  absolute 
Prince  it  was  immediately  comply'd  with  :    Which 


A  Currency  Scheme  [ss] 

was  the  first  Scheme  he  laid  to  bring  forward  those 
mighty  Schemes  which  he  afterwards  compleated. 
And  all  Mankind  are  Witnesses,  from  those  just 
Schemes  formed  by  him,  to  what  a  mighty  Figure 
they  make,  and  at  present  appear  in  the  World. 
The  Empire  of  Muscovy  is  no  ways  to  be  compared 
with  his  Majesty's  Dominions  in  America.  And 
was  his  Majesty's  Colonies  to  be  justly  improved  by 
proper  Encouragements  from  our  Mother  Country, 
it  would  make  our  King  one  of  the  greatest  Mon- 
archs  on  Earth.  For  it  must  be  Men  of  large 
Fortunes  to  proceed  on  that  Scheme  of  procuring 
Naval  Stores,  and  not  Beggars.  For  it  is  plain  that 
the  People  at  the  Eastward  can  but  just  support 
Nature,  by  cutting  Timber  and  Cord  Wood,  so  it's 
plain  to  a  Demonstration  what  Quantities  of  Naval 
Stores  we  may  expect  from  those  People. 

From  the  whole,  I  most  humbly  conceive  it 
would  be  the  great  Interest  of  this  most  noble 
Province,  for  the  Great  and  General  Court  to  pass 
an  Act  to  encourage  our  young  Nobility,  Gentry 
and  Farmers  to  come  and  settle  amongst  us,  setting 
forth  the  Goodness  of  the  Land,  and  the  vast  Im- 
provements they  may  make  of  their  Money,  and  to 
grant  them  what  Lands  they  want  to  improve. 
Suppose    but    one    single    Hundred    of    our    young 


[54]  A  Currency  Scheme 

Nobility  and  Gentry  was  to  come  with  Five  thou- 
sand Pounds  Sterling  in  each  Cientleman's  Pocket, 
the  Moment  they  arrive  in  Bosto?i^  the  whole  Land 
will  be  worth  double  the  Value  by  their  coming; 
this  can  be  mathematically  demonstrated :  But  I 
don't  doubt  but  Thousands  of  our  worthy  honest 
Gentlemen's  Sons  will  come  and  settle  to  the  ut- 
most Bounds  of  this  most  noble  Province :  And 
then  if  a  French  War  happen,  King  George  and 
Canada  forever ;  then  his  glorious  Majesty  King 
Georcje  will  have  a  compleat  Empire. 

And  I  verily  think  that  the  Opinion  of  the 
ingenious  Dr.  Mather  will  certainly  come  to  pass  : 
For  the  Doctor  in  his  Letter  to  one  Anthony  Wil- 
liam Boheme^  late  Chaplain  to  his  Royal  Highness 
Geor(}e  when  Prince  of  Denmark :  The  Con- 
tents of  which  Letter  was  this.  That  Dr.  Mather 
had  remitted  so  much  Money  by  Bills  of  Exchange 
(collected  from  private  Gentlemen  in  N  ew- Engl  and) 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  GOSPEL  in  Mallabar 
East  Indies :  The  Money  was  to  be  sent  to  Pro- 
fessus  Frankus  at  Hall  in  Saxony.  After  Dr.  Mather 
had  given  a  beautiful  Description  of  Church  Af- 
fairs, he  concludes  his  Letter  with  political  Affairs ; 
and  gives  a  fine  Account  of  this  Part  of  the  World  ; 
and  heartily  lamenting  the  Misfortune  of  the  Canda 


A  Currency  Scheme  [SS] 

Expedition ;  (but  wholly  lays  the  Blame  on  the 
Old-England  Men)  for  he  declares,  That  no  Men  on 
the  Earth  could  proceed  with  more  Courage  and 
Resolution  than  the  New-England  Men  :  But  the 
Dr.  concludes  with  this  noble  Saying,  That  I  really 
and  verily  think,  that  in  less  than  fifty  Years,  the 
glorious  House  of  Hanover  will  be  Emperors 
of  all  America,  and  then  it  will  be  the  greatest 
Empire  in  the  whole  World.  Now  to  any  think- 
ing Man,  the  Doctor's  Thoughts  will  certainly 
come  to  pass :  For  we  see  what  a  glorious  Settle- 
ment is  carrying  on  at  Georgia^  and  how  the  English 
Nation  are  spirited  to  support  that  Province.  And 
it  is  not  in  the  least  to  be  doubted  but  by  proper 
Application  to  his  Royal  Majesty  and  Parliament, 
they  would  come  into  any  Measures  to  make  the 
Frontiers  of  this  Province  a  strong  Barrier  against 
Canada ;  and  then  if  the  French  and  Spaniards  dare 
to  go  to  War  with  Great-Britain,  so  certain  we  shall 
take  Canada  and  the  Spanish  West-Indies  which  will 
put  a  final  End  to  all  the  Villanies  committed  on 
us  by  the  Spaniards,  and  there  is  no  true  Englishmen 
but  hopes  and  wishes  to  see  that  Day. 

The  worthy  ingenious  Capt.  Plaisted  informed 
me  he  had  received  a  Letter  from  Mr.  Silas  Hooper, 
Merchant  in  London,  dated  October  8.  1738.  wherein 


[i^6]  A  Currency  Scheme 

he  informs  him,  That  the  Pot-Ash  remitted  from 
New-England  to  him,  was  allowed  to  be  as  good  as 
that  Pot- Ash  which  comes  from  Russia.  It  ap- 
peared by  our  Book  of  Entries,  there  was  upwards 
of  Two  Thousand  Tuns  imported  from  the  North- 
ern Kingdoms  in  one  Year :  And  Pot-Ash  being 
worth  Thirty  Pounds  per  Ton,  (the  said  200  Tons  at 
30/.  per  Ton,  amounts  to  Sixty  Thousand  Pounds^ 
And  as  the  Pot- Ash  pays  to  his  Majesty  Six  Pounds 
per  Ton  Duty  ;  I  do  not  doubt  in  the  least  for  the 
Encouragement  of  this  Manufactury  in  these  Parts, 
by  properly  applying  to  the  Parliament  for  the 
Drawback  to  be  taken  off,  it  would  be  done,  and  a 
Royal  Bounty  granted  :  And  the  Gentlemen  of  this 
Province  coming  to  a  just  Way  of  thinking,  they 
might  flow  in  Riches  as  they  please.  And  these 
Gentlemen  or  Society  that  are  concerned  in  the 
aforementioned  Mills,  might  directly  bring  this 
Scheme  of  the  Pot-Ash  to  Perfection ;  and  what 
glorious  Farms  would  be  produced  from  this 
Scheme  of  Pot-Ash  r 

I  had  almost  forgot  to  mention  one  more  great 
Benefit  to  this  great  Town  of  Boston  in  the  building 
these  Mills,  which  all  Mankind  must  allow  to  be 
just;  that  is  thus,  Suppose  it  should  happen  a  War, 
by    having    such    a    hne    Communication    with    the 


A  Currency  Scheme  [57] 

Castle,  we  might  soon  supply  that  Fortress  with 
Ten  Thousand  brave  Fellows  that  would  face  any 
Enemy  on  the  whole  Earth.  And  by  this  Scheme 
the  great  Town  of  Bosto?i  may  be  made  impregnable. 
We  may  see  to  what  a  glorious  Spirit  the  English 
Nation  are  arrived  to,  in  improving  every  Thing 
that's  possible  to  be  done  for  the  Good  of  the 
Publick  ;  witness  the  advancing  700,000/.  towards 
building  a  Bridge  from  Westminster  across  to  Lam- 
beth ;  and  there  is  no  Gentlemen,  that  are  thinking 
Men,  but  knows  the  Profits  arising  by  Tole  of  the 
said  Bridge  will  not  bring  in  more  than  Two  per 
Cent  Interest ;  but  they  all  know  it's  for  the  Good 
of  their  Country,  therefore  they  see  it  necessary  it 
should  be  done  notwithstanding  the  Insufficiency  of 
the  Premium  for  such  a  vast  Undertaking.  There- 
fore as  the  aforementioned  Mills  can  be  mathemat- 
ically proved,  to  produce  Twenty  per  Cent,  it  will 
be  look'd  upon  in  England,  if  it  is  not  done,  that 
the  Gentlemen  of  this  Country  do  not  consult  their 
own  Interest  and  the  general  Good  the  whole  Coun- 
try will  reap  therefrom.  And  for  any  Person  or 
Persons  to  send  Home  any  dismal  Complaint  of  the 
State  of  the  Province,  it  will  be  look'd  upon  as  only 
noisy  Faction  and  Clamour. 

I    have  been  always  surprized   to  think  what  vast 


[58]  A  Currency  Scheme 

Improvements  have  been  performed  by  the  (jentle- 
men  of  this  Province  in  one  Century.  But  now, 
provided  our  young  Nobility,  Gentry  and  Farmers 
come  over,  with  their  Pockets  full  of  Money,  what 
vast  Improvements  may  be  expected  in  the  next 
Century. 

I  don't  in  the  least  doubt  but  these  fifteen  Colo- 
nies w^ill  arrive  to  as  great  a  Pitch  of  Glory  as  those 
fifteen  Provinces  of  China.  And  as  Sir  William 
Temple  observeth,  it  must  be  allowed  to  be  the 
greatest,  richest  and  most  populous  Kingdom  now 
known  in  the  World  ;  and  will  be  found  perhaps 
to  owe  its  Riches,  Force,  Civility  and  Felicity  to 
the  admirable  Constitution  of  its  Government,  more 
than  any  other.  The  Empire  consists  of  fifteen 
several  Kingdoms,  which  are  govern'd  by  Vice- 
Roys,  who  yet  live  in  Greatness,  Splendor  and 
Riches,  equal  to  great  and  sovereign  Kings.  In  the 
whole  Kingdom  there  are  145  Capital  Cities,  of 
mighty  Extent  and  magnificent  Buildings ;  and 
I  321  lesser  Cities,  but  all  walled  round;  the  Num- 
ber of  Villages  is  infinite:  And  no  Country  in  the 
known  World  is  so  full  of  Inhabitants,  nor  so  im- 
proved by  Agriculture  and  Manufacturies,  by  infinite 
Growth  of  numerous  Commodies,  by  Canals  of 
incredible  Length,  Conjunction  of  Rivers,  by  Con- 


A  Currency  Scheme  [59] 

venience  of  Ways  for  the  Transportation  of  all  Sorts 
of  Goods  from  one  Province  to  another  ;  so  as  no 
Country  has  so  great  a  Trade. 

There  is  a  vulgar  Error,  to  the  vast  Damage 
of  this  Province,  that  the  New- England  Oak  is  far 
inferiour  to  the  Oak  in  Old  England ;  and  the  Error 
has  so  long  prevailed  that  it's  now  really  allowed  by 
all  Sorts  of  People  to  be  Fact :  And  the  only  Rea- 
son I  find  to  Support  this  Opinion  is,  that  the  Ships 
built  in  New-England  will  not  last  so  long  as  those 
built  in  Old:  I  grant  what  they  say.  Those  Ships 
that  have  been  hitherto  built,  are  not  so  good  as 
those  built  in  England.  The  Reason  is  plain  to  a 
Demonstration  why  they  are  not  so  good,  The 
People  that  procure  the  Timber  cut  it  down  in 
Season  and  out  of  Season,  for  they  are  obliged  to  eat 
it  as  fast  as  they  cut  it.  The  Ship  Builders  are 
poor,  and  the  Merchants  will  always  keep  them  so, 
according  to  the  present  Scheme  they  act  by  ;  so 
that  it  cannot  be  expected,  from  the  solid  Reason 
of  things,  these  People  can  build  with  regular  sea- 
son'd  Stuff  I  can  with  Modesty  say,  I  understand 
the  just  and  true  Nature  and  Goodness  of  Oak,  as 
well  as  any  Man  living.  And  I  am  fully  deter- 
mined to  prove,  before  the  Commissioners  of  his 
Majesty's  Royal   Navy,  that  there  is  as  good  Oak  in 


[6o]  A  Currency  Scheme 

America  as  any  in  Old  England.  And  that  it  would 
save  his  Majesty  some  hundred  thousand  Pounds  Ster- 
ling, by  building  Fourth,  Fifth,  and  Sixth  Rate 
Men  of  War  in  New-England.  I  am  certain  of 
destroying  this  vulgar  Error  concerning  the  Oak, 
and  with  as  much  Pleasure  as  Daniel  destroyed  Bell 
and  the  Dragon.  For  the  English  Nation  are  ar- 
rived to  a  line  Method  in  polite  Reason  and  Think- 
ing. For  in  the  present  Age,  no  Man  that  has  or 
really  pretends  to  have  the  least  Shadow  or  Founda- 
tion of  common  Reason,  will  by  any  Means  be 
Hoodwink'd,  but  shew  him  mathematical  Demon- 
stration and  he  will  come  into  your  Scheme  directly, 
so  that  any  Man  that  Grounds  His  Hypothesis  on 
solid  Truth  will  certainly  gain  his  Scheme. 

I  humbly  make  bold  to  make  use  of  an  Observa- 
tion of  a  worthy,  learned  Gentleman,  who  is  look'd 
upon  by  all  Men  in  the  Province  to  be  a  Gentleman 
of  solid  Knowledge  and  Learning,  he  lately  wrote 
an  Essay  concerning  Silver  and  Paper  Currencies ; 
and  it  is  allowed  to  be  compleatly  done:  He  ob- 
serveth  thus  on  a  private  Bank.  Private  Credit,  or 
Notes  on  a  good  solid  Foundation,  are  better  than 
publick  Bills  ;  the  former  cannot  impune  or  break 
their  Faith,  (they  are  a  Coerusion)  the  Publick  is 
the    Dernier    Resort,    and    in    bad    Administrations 


A  Currency  Scheme  [^^] 

frequently  break  their  publick   Faith.      Hence   the 
Credit  of  a  well   regulated    Commerce  or  Corpora- 
tion, is  better  than  that  of  the  Civil  Administration. 
The    Bank   Money  at    Fenice  is    20  per  Cent,  better 
than  common   Currency.      This  private  commercial 
Credit  in  all    polite    Nations  is  so  sacred    at   present 
that  the   Civil   Government  stands   corrected  by   it. 
The  Generallity  of  the  United   Provinces  did  Anno 
1693,   Coin  alloy'd   Pieces,  called    ^aad  Sckellings, 
at  6  Stivers  each,  being  near  i  o  per  Ce?it.  above  their 
intrinsick  Value.     The  Bank  retain'd    their   Integ- 
rity, and    it  again  rose  to    1 3  and    1 5   per  Cent,  this 
obliged    the   Government  to  reduce  these   Sckellings 
to  5  and  half  Stivers,  their  intrinsick  Value,  and  have 
continued    so    ever   since.      And    the    Agio   of   the 
Bank  fell   to   3   or    5  per  Cent,  as  formerly.      Anno 
1720,   France  being   in  the  most  dismal   Confusion 
by  their   Paper  Currency,   their  Court  was  obliged 
to   apply   to   the   Merchants   and   Bankers  for    their 
Advice,  concerning  a  Method  to  be  used  to  find  out 
the  natural    Proportion   between   publick   Bills   and 
Silver  Species,  and  to   Limit  their  proper  Effects  to 
a  certain   Sum;    a   plain  Illustration   that   private  is 
better  than  publick   Credit.     We  have  among  our 
selves   our    Merchants  Notes,  so  called,  being  well 
founded,  were    1 1    and    half  per  Cent,    in   December 


or  tmi 

Of 


[62]  A  Currency  Scheme 

1737;  will  be  18  per  Cent,  in  'December  1738;  12 
and  half  per  Cefit.  3  7ths  of  them  then  paid  off,  in 
December  1739;  19  and  \\2\i  per  Cent,  in  December 
1740;  26  and  half  per  Cent,  in  December  1741  ;  and 
'>^\  per  Cent,  in  December  1742,  better  than  the  pres- 
ent Value  ot  our  Province  Bills  at  27  per  Cent,  be- 
cause they  are  continually  growing  better  until  they 
come  to  their  lix'd  Value,  at  which  they  are  to  be 
paid  off.  Thus  it  will  be  with  these  Notes  made 
by  the  Company  for  the  Building  these  Mills. 

The  worthy  Gentleman  very  justly  observeth 
further,  When  Paper  Money  is  in  a  continued 
Course  of  depreciating,  all  Debts  and  other  Con- 
tracts, are  paid  in  less  Value  than  they  are  contracted 
for:  which  is  an  unjust,  but  natural  Operation  of 
this  false  Medium.  The  generous  foreign  Adven- 
turer or  Merchant,  and  consequently  Trade  in  its 
genuine  Sense,  is  hurt;  the  Shopkeeper  and  Mer- 
chant Hucksters,  who  have  a  long  Credit  from 
their  Merchants  and  abuse  this  Credit  Industry  and 
Frugality,  the  only  Means  of  growing  rich,  are 
turned  aside ;  in  the  Place  of  being  industrious,  the 
young  Men,  called  Gentlemen,  follow  no  other 
Business  but  Drinking  and  CJaming ;  many  in 
Quality  of  Shopkeepers  become  Drones ;  Trades- 
men, of  all  Occupations  in  Boston,  loiter  away  much 


A  Currency  Scheme  [^3] 

of  their  Time  ;  the  Husbandmen,  in  the  Country, 
spend  many  idle  Days  in  their  little  Rum  Taverns. 
Frugality  is  superceeded  by  Prodigality  and  Extrava- 
gancy, as  is  too  apparent  in  fine  Houses  and  Furni- 
ture, Chaises  and  other  Equipages,  Velvets,  Scarlets, 
rich  Silks  and  Laces.  Thus  far  saith  that  learned 
and  ingenious  Gentleman,  the  Author  of  the  Silver 
and  Paper  Scheme. 

From   the  whole  of  this   Scheme   I   observe,   and 
will  make  it  appear  to   any   Gentleman    or   Body  of 
Gentlemen,    that    these    Mills  aforementioned,   will 
produce    Twenty   thousand    Pounds   neat    Profit    each 
Year.       But    this  Scheme  is  a  small    trifling    one   to 
what   I    have  by  me.      And  as  I    have  drawn  all   my 
Schemes  to  be  proved  by  the  Mathematicks,  and  all 
Mankind    perfectly   knowns    that    Figures   will    not 
lye,  if  rightly  placed.      And    I    don't   doubt    having 
the    Approbation    of   all    solid,   wise   judicious    and 
thinking  Men  in  all   Nations  of  the  trading  World. 
For   there  is  no    Parts  on    the  whole    Earth,  where 
Money  is  to   be  got  and   improved,  more  than  what 
is  to  be  got  in  his   Majesty's   Provinces  in  America. 
I   shall   endeavour,    to    the  utmost  of  my  Power,  to 
forward    the    Establishment    of  a    Bank,   on  such   a 
Footing  as  to  bring  the  wise  Men  in  all  the  trading 
Nations   to   be  concerned   in   it.      And    I    do  not   in 


[  64  ]  A  Currency  Scheme 

the  least  doubt  of  having  his  Royal  Majesty's  Ap- 
probation, and  that  great  and  dernier  Resort,  our 
great  and  august  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  which 
Assembly  is  now  the  Glory  of  the  whole  Earth. 

We  may  see  what  a  noble  Harmony  there  is 
between  the  Parliament  and  our  most  gracious 
King,  by  the  bottom  Clause  of  his  Majesty's 
Speech,   which    he    recommends    thus, 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

/  cannot  but  earnestly  recomt?iend  it  to  you,  ?jot  to 
suffer  any  Prejudices  or  Animosities  to  have  any  Share 
in  your  Deliberations  at  this  important  Conjuncture, 
which  seems  in  a  particular  Manner  to  call  upon  you  to 
unite  in  carrying  on  such  Measures  as  will  be  tnost  con- 
ducive to  the  true  Interest  and  Advantage  of  My  People. 


The  most  noble  Lords  Answer  to  his  Majesty 
is  full  of  Duty. 

We  are  deeply  sensible  how  unbecoming  and  pernicious 
it  would  be  at  any  Time,  to  suffer  either  Prejudices  or 
Animosities  to  ?fiix  themselves  with  parliamentary  De- 
liberations:  And  your  Majesty'^  gracious  Recom- 
mendation to  us  particularly  to  avoid  them  at  this  impor- 


A  Currency  Scheme  [^S] 

tunate  Conjuncture ^  cannot  fail  to  awaken  in  us  a  more 
than  ordinary  Caution  on  that  Head.  Great-Britain 
hath  but  one  common  Interest  consisting  in  the  Security 
of  your  Majesty'j  Person  and  Government^  and  the 
We  fare  and  Happiness  of  your  People.  And  when 
your  Majesty  is  pleased  to  exhort  us  to  Unanimity^ 
it  is  only  calling  upon  us  to  unite  to  our  own  Preserva- 
tion. We  therefore  beseech  your  Majesty  to  accept 
the  strongest  and  fnost  affectionate  Assurances^  that  we 
will  zealously  and  cheerfully  concur  in  all  such  Measures 
as  shall  he  most  condusive  to  those  great  and  desirable 
Ends. 


Thus  answered  our  most  noble  Lords,  which 
is  like  Apples  of  Gold  in  Pictures  of  Silver,  and  a 
glorious  Pattern  for  all  his  Majesty's  Subjects. 

And  as  Sir  Robert  Le  Estrange  justly  ob- 
serveth,  Let  Error,  Corruption  or  Iniquity  be 
never  so  strong,  never  so  popular,  let  the  Ignorance 
of  things  necessary  to  be  known  be  never  so  dark 
and  palpable,  we  may  yet  assure  our  selves.  That 
however  Truth  and  Justice  may  suffer  a  temporary 
Eclipse,    they  will   yet   at   the   long  run  as  certainly 


[  66  ]  A  Currency  Scheme 

vindicate    themselves,    and     recover     their    original 
Glory,  as  the  setting  Sun  shall  rise  again. 

P.  S.   Cu?n  sit  alioqui  multo  deforrnius^ 

Amittere  quam  non  assequi  haudem. 
Plin.  Ep.  Lib.  8. 

I  am, 

Gentlemen, 

Your  most  obedient 
humble  Servant, 
Boston  Goal,  going  onward  Two  Years 
of  my  unjust  Confinement. 
April  19,  1739. 

Richard  Fry. 


A  Currency  Scheme  \^^7] 


POSTSCRIPT. 

SINCE  the  finishing  this  Scheme,  the  worthy 
and  ingenious  Capt.  Cyprian  Southack  made 
me  a  Present  of  the  New-E?igland  Coasting-Pilot. 
And  as  I  am  informed,  the  Motive  that  induced 
him  to  make  me  this  Present,  was  his  hearing  that 
I  was  drawing  the  present  State  of  the  Province: 
he  was  willing  to  forward  such  an  Undertaking  as 
much  as  lay  in  his  Power.  As  it  is  allowed  by  all 
Mankind,  that  Ingratitude  is  as  bad  as  the  Sin  of 
Witchcraft,  therefore  I  think  it  my  Duty  to  return 
Capt.  Southack  my  most  hearty  Thanks  for 
the  Present  of  his  New-England  Coasting  Pilots  in 
this  publick  Manner.  And  all  the  Gentlemen  of 
this  most  noble  Province  ought  to  know  what  a  just 
Value  our  late  most  glorious  King  WILLIAM 
shew'd  Capt.  Southack,  for  this  his  noble 
Undertaking.  The  following  Order  of  his  Royal 
Majesty  will  demonstrate  it. 


[68]  A  Currency  Scheme 


At  the   Court   at  Whitehall  the  26th  of  February^ 
1694. 

PRESENT, 

The  King's  most  Excellent  Majesty  in  Council. 
WHEREAS  Capt.  Cyprian  Southack,  who 
has  been  for  several  Tears  e??iployed  by  the  Government 
of  New-England  at  Sea,  and  has  performed  divers 
signal  Services  in  several  Expeditions ;  having  this 
Day  had  the  Honour  to  Kiss  his  Majesty's  Hand; 
presented  to  his  Majesty  a  Draught  of  New- En  gland, 
Newfoundland,  Nova-Scotia,  and  the  River  of  Can- 
ada, and  the  Seas  and  Territories  thereunto  adjoining, 
niade  by  hitnself  in  the  said  several  Expeditions :  His 
Majesty  taking  into  his  gracious  Consideration  the  said 
Cyprian  Southack,  and  for  his  jurther  En- 
couragement,  is  pleased  to  Order  as  is  hereby  ordered  the 
Sutn  of  Fifty  Pounds,  to  be  paid  to  him  for  the  Buying 
a  Gold  Chain  and  Medal,  as  a  Mark  of  his  Majesty's 
Royal  Favour;  and  that  the  Right  Honourable  the 
Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Treasury  do  give  all  neces- 
sary Directions  for  the  speedy  Payment  of  the  said  Sum. 

John   Nicholis. 


A  Currency  Scheme  [^9] 

You   plainly  see  what  a  just  Sense  of  the  Merits 
of   this   Gentleman    his    Royal    Majesty    conceived. 
And   I  must   humbly  observe   to   the  Gentlemen  of 
this  most  noble   Province,   that   they  could   not  ex- 
press   their    just   Value   and    Esteem    for    our    great 
Deliverer,  our   late  most  august  and   glorious   King 
WILLIAM,   than   by  erecting   to   his  Memory   his 
Majesty's  Statue  on  Horseback,  erected  on  a   Pedes- 
tal, and  placed   before  the  Town  House  facing  King 
Street:    And  there  is  not  one  Man  in  the   Province, 
that  is  a   Lover  of  Liberty  and   Property,  but  what 
will   contribute  towards  such   a  noble  Undertaking. 
The    Gentlemen    of   Ireland   have,    notwithstanding 
the    famous    Monument     in     the    City    of    D2iblin, 
erected  soon  after,  and  in   Memory  of  his  Majesty's 
glorious   Actions,    further   to   perpetuate   the   same, 
erected  another   of  glorious  Structure  in   the  great 
River    of   Boy?ie,    where    the  chief   Scene  of   their 
Deliverance    was,    by    the    Almighty's    assisting    his 
Majesty's  Arms,  fully  compleated.      From  this  glo- 
rious Example   I   hope  the  Gentlemen  of  this  most 
noble    Province  will    not    be    wanting    to    erect    a 
Trophy  of  Honour,  in   Memory  of  him  they  have 
express'd  so  great  a  Value  for  by  Words  ;    but  as  for 
Words  we  all  know  they  cost  nothing.      As  for  the 
worthy    and    ingenious    Capt.    Southack,    I    have 


[70]  A  Currency  Scheme 

not  heard  that  he  has  received  any  Gratuity  by  way 
of  Bounty  for  his  great  Labour  and  Pains  in  serving 
this  most  noble  Province.  Mankind  nothing  more 
imitates  almighty  God,  than  by  rewarding  those 
that  lay  out  their  Powers  and  Faculties  in  serving 
Mankind,  This  Coasting  Pilot  gives  me  a  just  Idea  of 
the  Coast  of  his  Majesty's  Provinces  from  New-Tork 
to  the  Bay  of  J'^iinday.  The  very  Islands  are  able  to 
contain  Millions  of  People;  which  absolutely  de- 
stroys that  vile  selhsh  Principle  of  some  People  which 
say  they  are  not  for  Strangers  coming  amongst  them, 
because  they  shall  not  have  Land  enough  for  their 
Children ;   which  is  really  a  childish  Story. 

Upon  moderate  Computation  the  Gentlemen 
Farmers  have  borrowed  on  Bond  and  Mortgages 
upwards  of  Five  hundred  thousand  Pounds ;  of  which 
the  greatest  Part  is  let  at  i  o  per  Cent.  And  accord- 
ing to  the  present  Scituation  of  Affairs,  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  those  Cjentlemen  to  pay  off  their  Securities: 
So  that  a  Gentleman  that  has  Mortgaged  his  Form 
for  500/.  that  is  worth  2000,  his  Farm  on  Prose- 
cution is  certainly  forfeited  for  want  of  the  500/. 
And  its  impossible  it  should  be  otherwise  whilst  the 
griping  Usurers  Monopolizes  into  their  own  Coffers, 
the  Bulk  of  that  small  Quantity  of  running  Specie 
that  is   now    Extant    amongst  us.      And   as  the  old 


A  Currency  Scheme  \7^] 

saying  is,  The  just  Value  of  any  Commodity  what- 
ever, is  what  it  will  fetch.  The  only  Remedy  to 
avoid  this  great  Evil,  is  for  the  Assembly  of  this 
Province,  as  I  observed  before,  to  lay  just  Schemes, 
to  perswade  and  allure  our  young  Nobility,  Gen- 
try and  Farmers  to  come  and  settle  among  us ; 
and  it's  not  to  be  doubted,  but  these  Gentlemen 
would  purchase  the  Farms  of  those  Gentlemen 
that  have  involved  themselves,  and  are  now  in  a 
State  of  Bondage ;  and  they  may  put  Money  suf- 
ficient in  their  Pockets  to  proceed  on  the  Set- 
tlement of  new  Farms  on  the  out  Lands,  with 
Resolution  and  Vigour.  And  in  a  few  Years,  by 
common  Industry,  they  will  have  as  good  Farms 
as  they  at  first  parted  with,  and  an  entire  Free- 
dom from  the  grand  Oppression  they  then  labour'd 
under.  And  upon  the  Arrival  of  a  Number  of 
our  young  Nobility  and  Farmers,  with  a  Quantity 
of  Money,  it  would  make  it  a  Year  of  Jubilee 
for  all  those  Gentlemen  that  now  labour  under 
the  present  grand  Oppressions.  For  all  Gentle- 
men well  knows  what  a  vast  Number  of  Farms 
must  be  put  to  Sale  in  few  Years;  And  no  Pur- 
chasers can  appear  to  buy  of  these  Country  Peo- 
ple: The  Reason  is,  because  they  will  not  have 
Money   to   pay  for   them.      And  further,    I   observe 


fyzl  A  Currency  Scheme 

to  the  Gentlemen  Shopkeepers  not  to  purchase 
large  Quantities  of  English  Goods,  for  some  time, 
till  the  Ballance  of  Trade  is  brought  to  a  more 
fix  Standard ;  for  it  may  be  mathematically  proved, 
that  as  certain  as  any  Man  buys  large  Quantities 
of  Goods,  so  certain  he  will  be  ruined :  For  as 
some  Gentlemen  have  lately  got  Estates  by  the 
prodigious  Rise  of  Goods,  so  certainly  some  Men 
will  be  ruined  by  their  great  Fall ;  which  will 
come  to   pass,   as  sure  as   the   Sun   that   moves. 

I  must  observe,  by  way  of  Comfort,  to  the 
Gentlemen  that  labour  at  present  under  great  Op- 
pressions, that  we  have  a  common  saying,  A  des- 
perate Disease  must  have  a  desperate  Cure ;  but  if 
more  pacifick  Measures  can  be  found  out,  it  will  be 
vastly  more  pleasing  to  this  Body  Politick.  For 
as  Harmony  and  sincere  Love  are  the  just  Foun- 
dation of  all  Happiness  both  in  this  World  and 
the  World  to  come,  and  as  our  General  Assem- 
bly are  the  proper  Physicians,  it  is  not  in  the 
least  doubted  but  they  will  make  a  sound  Cure 
of  this  Body  Politick,  and  lay  a  solid  Foundation 
of  Happiness  for  the  rising  Generations.  And 
what  more  noble  and  grand  than  to  lay  great 
Designs  for  future  Ages  to  copy  after  ;  which  will  be 
lasting  Monuments  of  Praise  to  our  great  Assembly. 


The    Petition  of  the    Prisoners 


in 


Boston    Gaol 
1740 


The  prisoners  in  the  Boston  jail,  which  was  located  on  Queen 
Street,  now  Court,  facing  Franklin  Avenue,  the  site  of  what  is  now  the 
"old"  Court  House  back  of  the  City  Hall,  petitioned  the  General 
Court  for  a  redress  of  their  complaints,  in  June,  1739.  In  March, 
1740,  N.  S.,  this  was  rejected  on  the  ground  that  it  contained 
"  divers  very  injurious  and  insolent  expressions."  Having  admin- 
istered this  reproof  to  the  prisoners,  the  Assembly  referred  the 
matter  to  a  Committee,  which  reported  a  year  later.  The  Com- 
mittee recommended  that  the  legislature  pass  a  law  to  authorize  the 
whipping  of  prisoners  in  place  of  fines  for  swearing,  drunkenness 
and  such  like  offences,  and  to  remove  the  restraints  which  might  be 
put  upon  those  who  desired  to  make  gifts  to  the  prisoners.  A 
rough  draft  of  such  a  law  was  prepared,  but  in  the  end  the  peti- 
tion was  once  more  rejected  on  the  ground  that  it  should  have  been 
sent  to  the  Court  of  General  Sessions. 

The  following  document  is  a  new  petition  which  was  prepared 
after  the  inferior  Court  had  failed  to  act  to  the  satisTaction  of  the 
prisoners.  It  is  preserved  in  the  State  House  at  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts JrchiveSy  volume  41,  page  711. 


To  His  Excellency  Johnathan  Belcher  Esq/  Captain 
General,  and  Governour  in  cheife  in  and  over  his 
Majestys  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England,  and  to  his  Majestys  Most  Hono.^'^  Coun- 
cil and  to  the  Hon.'''"  the  house  of  Representaves 
Now  Asembled  in   Boston. 

The  Humble  petition  of  the  prisoners  for  Debt 
in  Boston  Goal.  Your  Most  humble  Petitioners. 
Most  Humbly  Shew^eth. 

In  Most  Humble  Obedience  to  the  Order  of  the 
report  of  the  great  and  General  Courts  Most 
Hon-"^  Committee  on  the  petition  of  y"  prisoners 
for  debt  in  Boston  Goal  Dated  Nov.'  21  :  1740. 
Your  Most  humble  Petitioners  in  Obedience  to 
that  Order  have  Laid  our  complaint  before  the 
Hon''''^  his  Majestys  Bench  of  Justiceces  of  the 
peace  against  William  Young  the  Keeper  of  Bos- 
ton Goal,  for  his  Most  wicked  and  Barbarous  and 
Most  unhuman  treatment  of  the  Debtors  in  Bos- 
ton Goal  under  his  Care  the  Hon.''''  Bench  Choose 
a  Committee  to  examine  into  the  Complaint,  and 
the  committee  of  his  Majestys  Justiceces  have  ex- 
amined into  y'  prisoners  complaint  and  the  pris- 
oners proved  all  thier  aligations  against  the  Turn 
key  William  Young  and  the  committee  Faithfully 


[  76  1  The  Prisoners'  Petition 

promised  the  prisoners  to  Redress  and  relevie  all 
their  great  Hardships  and  Greviances  but  no  fur- 
ther proceedings  have  been  Done  by  the  said  com- 
mittee having  been  diverted  by  his  Smooth  Soft  oyly 
flattering  faire  words  and  promises.  And  William 
Young  in  Oppen  high  and  manefest  contempt  of  all 
Law  Reason  and  Justice  in  Open  defiance  of  the 
Report  of  the  great  and  General  Courts  Most 
Hon.^'^  Committee,  Still  Continues  and  repeateth 
dayly  his  Most  wicked  and  Triranical  proceedings 
against  us  your  Most  humble  petitioners  and  when 
your  Most  humble  petitioners  have  told  the 
Keeper  Young  that  the  Great  and  General  Courts 
Most  Hon.''^*  Committee  have  Condemned  his  pro- 
ceedings William  Young  Plumply  told  y^  prisoners 
that  they  might  take  the  I'lcport  of  the  General 
Courts  Committee  and  wipe  all  their  Arses  with 
the  General  Courts  Most  Honrable  Committees 
report  —  for  he  Said  he  did  not  no  ways  Value  the 
Committees  Report  as  one  Farthing.  Alter  the 
Report  Made  to  y^  Honrable  House  by  the  Com- 
mittee a  great  Number  of  Prisoners  finding  No 
Immediate  Releif  notwithstanding  they  had  proved 
all  their  Aligations  by  a  whole  Cloud  of  Wittnesses 
before  the  Most  Hon.^^'^  Committee  and  finding  they 
was  by  Order   in    the    Report  Orderd    Down    from 


The  Prisoners'  Petition  [771 

this  Most  High  and  Supream  Court  to  an  Inferiour 
Court  to  have  Justice  done  them  it  Actualy  reduced 
a  great  Number  of  prisoners  to  the  utmost  Delemna. 
And  in  the  Month  of  January  last  past  in  that  Most 
dismal  Weather  of  Snow  and  cold  for  five  days 
togeather  haveing  neither  Victuals  Drink  Nor  fire- 
ing,  and  Lying  on  the  Bare  plank  boards  and  almost 
Starved  and  perished  and  almost  Ready  to  dye  on 
the  Spott)  and  that  Most  wicked  Arbitrary  Gate 
aCross  the  very  face  of  the  Prison  Yard  Kept  fast 
lock't  Barred  and  Bolted  So  Intierly  prevented  the 
poor  Hungry  Disstressed  prisoners  from  makeing 
thier  Most  deploriable  case  Known  to  people  as 
they  pass  along  the  Street)  they  came  to  the  follow- 
ing resolution  and  Break  their  way  thro'  Iron  Barrs 
and  Bolts  &  Stone  Walls  And  the  Debtors  have 
Actually  Broke  Boston  Goal  live  times  Since  the 
Most  Hon."^  General  Courts  Committee  was  at  the 
Goal,  to  the  Number  of  thirty  odd  prisoners,  and 
will  be  to  the  damage  of  the  County  Some  thou- 
sands of  Pounds)  but  Your  Most  Humble  Peti- 
tioners humbly  apprehend  it  ought  to  fall  on  the 
Keeper  William  Young  for  it  can  be  proved  that 
it  was  Intierly  oweing  to  his  wicked  Arbitrary 
&  Most  Triranical  proceeding  that  made  the  poor 
prisoners   Break  y^  Goal. 


[78]  The  Prisoners'  Petition 

Since  the  Most  Hon.'''''  General  Courts  Committee 
was  here,  Young  the  Keeper  has  had  final  tryals 
with  prisoners  for  his  Barbarous  Treatment,  and 
was  finaly  Cast  at  Court  for  his  wicked  proceed- 
ings, and  William  Young  and  his  Son  in  order  to 
Screen  themSelves  from  their  wicked  proceedings, 
both  Father  and  Son  absolutely  and  Bone  fide  in 
Open  Court  and  in  Open  defiance  of  all  the  Laws 
of  God  and  Man  Actualy  have  forsworn  them 
Selves  and  now  are  presented  Informed  against  to 
the  Grand  Jury  for  the  Same 

And  the  said  William  Young  &  his  Son  are  Now 
Trying  all  that  lyes  in  their  power  Interest  and 
friends  to  Indeavour  to  prevent  the  Grand  Jury 
from  finding  the  Bill  of  Indictment.  Your  Most 
Humble  Petitioners  Most  Humbly  pray  this  Great 
and  General  Court  to  take  our  Most  deplorable 
Case  into  Your  Wise  considerations)  and  your  Most 
Humble  Petitioners  after  two  Years  Application  to 
this  Great  and  General  Court,  and  somany  Com- 
mittees Choose  and  the  Prisoners  always  proved 
all  their  aligations  by  a  whole  Cloud  of  wittnesses 
that  wee  hope  now  the  time  is  come  that  Your 
Humble  petitioners  May  be  Redressed  and  Boston 
Goal  to  be  putt  on  the  Same  footing  with  the 
Goals  in   England. 


The  Prisoners'  Petition  1 79  ] 

And  that  wicked  Arbitrary  and  Triranical  gate 
which  is  built  aCross  the  prison  yard  May  by  an 
Order  from  this  most  Hon.^''  Great  and  General 
Court  be  Directly  Demolished  as  Absolutely  Re- 
pugnant to  Your  province  Law  Repugnant  to  all 
the  Most  Solemn  Accts  of  parliament  for  Liberty 
and  property  and  finaly  Repugnant  to  the  Moral 
Reason  &  fittness  of  common  Accts  of  Human- 
itty.  and  that  this  Agust  Court  will  Turn  William 
Young  out  of  his  Office  of  Keeper  of  Boston  Goal, 
for  wee  Most  humbly  Leave  it  to  the  Just  Im- 
partial consideration  of  this  Agust  Court  to  See 
wether  Such  a  Man  can  be  fitt  to  govern  the  Goal, 
that  is  Actualy  guilty  of  these  following  Notori- 
ous Monsterous  Crimes  and  finaly  condemned  in 
the  Law  for  Beating  Prisoners,  for  Beating  persons 
that  came  purely  to  aid  Asist  and  Releive  the 
poor  Hungry  prisoners,  for  Robing  A  Man  of 
his  Hatt  in  the  prison  Yard  and  to  compleat  all 
his  Most  Notorious  trirany  he  is  now  Complained 
of  to  the  Grand  Jury  with  his  Son  for  perjury 
and  for  the  said  William  Young  to  Despice  the 
General  Courts  Committee  their  Report,  by  telling 
the  Prisoners  they  might  wipe  all  their  Arses  with 
the  Report  of  the  Committee,  and  now  wee  Loudly 
call   on  William  Young   that    Monster   of  wicked- 


[So]  The  Prisoners'  Petition 

ness  to  Disprove  the  least  Article  of  all  Our  Ali- 
gations  wee  have  Exhibitated  against  him  to  this 
Great  and  General  Court  for  these  Tv^^o  Years 
past. 

And  finaly  wee  pray  as  you  are  Gentlemen,  as  You 
are  Christians  &  as  You  are  Guardians  of  the 
Libertys  of  the  people,  that  this  great  and  General 
Court  will  take  that  petition  Your  Hon.'''"  Com- 
mittee made  their  Report  on  y'^  21  November. 
1740.  and  for  this  August  Court  to  proceed  on 
that  petition  According  to  the  Great  Wisdom  of 
this  most  Hon.'''^  Great  and  General  Court.  And 
Your  Most  humble  Petitioners  as  in  Duty  bound 
Shall  for  ever  pray. 

Connelius   Campbel  Solomon   Hewes 

Rich"*  Fry  Arch*^  Mac   Parran 

JeflFery    fackson 

Jonathan   Farnum 

Barnabas  Allen 

William   Dunn 

Joshua   Mirick 

Peter   Walker 

Eleezer  Veesey 

Jane  Blake 


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